Ketto no Uzumaki
by MacMan3679
Summary: Minato succeeds in sealing away all of Kyuubi into Shinigami, and Kushina lives and raises Naruto as a true Uzumaki within the village. What difference would it make? This story was to create a new backstory for the Uzumaki, his time in school and the Uchiha massacre, graduation. I will be correcting grammar and spelling as I find them. COMPLETE
1. Bloodline of Uzumaki

Konohagakure

The demon fox raged through the Village of the Leaf Ninja of the Fire Nation. Roaring in pain and outrage, the Kyūbi no Kitsune decimated the Leaf ninja defense force. Taller than the tallest trees, its nails and claws ground the pitiful humans, as easily as a human could an ant. It never bothered to even try eating those it killed, since even a handful of these insignificant creatures would be nothing more than a palette cleanser.

That was just the physical immensity of the Fox spirit, its spiritual power, or chakra of the same creature was even greater. A flick of even one of its tails sent whirlwinds straight toward the people that protected this village. Minuscule exhales sent spheres of super-heated plasma into a different crowd.

The ninja of Konoha fought valiantly, while fear did assault their hearts, courage drove them onward, to whatever fate decided. Among the ninja of the Hidden Leaf, a couple, a fair-skinned red-headed woman, with violet eyes, and a blonde-haired man with blue pupil less eyes, and their midwife, a tall, voluptuous blonde woman, were _just_ welcoming their son into this world.

The new mother's weakened condition had allowed the akuma no kitsune, to escape from within her. The husband and their midwife, were able to repel the beast, and protect his wife and child from the initial attack. As the kage of the village, Namikaze Minato, a powerful shinobi and Senju Tsunade, one of the legendary sen'nin, the most respected isha-nin in the Five Great Nations, were able to hold the creature at bay, until the defense forces could arrive, within seconds of spotting the creature.

"Kushina-chan, how are you feeling," Tsunade-hime asked, after returning from the initial assault?

Uzumaki-Namikaze Kushina lifted her head up weakly, her son calmly nursing from her breast, smiled serenely, despite the battle raging just a couple of miles away. "I feel like, I just went through your survival training all over again, sensei. Only ten times worse.

Lady Tsunade barked out a laugh, as they looked tenderly upon the new arrival. The boy was average size for a baby, with a fuzz of blonde-hair on his crown. His ears were slightly pointed, and he had three whisker-like birthmarks on both cheeks. When they were opened he, like his mother had the most beautiful, violet eyes, with vertical pupils, like a cat or fox. The sounds of fighting were heard in the distance, and seemed to be dwindling.

Several minutes later a squad of jonin, led by Jiraiya of the sen'nin came shuffling in, Tsunade-hime gazed up at her husband, and seeing the look in his eyes. The same look he had the night, they lost their youngest on a mission. _Oh no,_ the slug princess thought, _not Minato._ Kushina began to tremble, she knew that if Jiraiya were here instead of her husband, then the worst has happened. Kushina hugged her son to her chest, and began weeping silently, rocking back and forth. Jiraiya walked over, knelt next to the new mother, and newer widow, with a weak little smile, he said, "I am so sorry, Kushina-chan, we all did everything we cou…" he trailed off unable to face the woman he loved, as much as his own daughters. Tsunade's hand on his back gave strength to her husband.

"Tell me how it happened, Jiji," Kushina Uzumaki implored. "I will tell Naruto about his father, about Minato's sacrifice."

Jiraiya began to speak, "Ku-chan, your husband, was the most selfless man, I have ever met, and it was an honor and a privilege being his sensei." He eyed her and grinned weakly, "If he weren't already taken, I would have no issue if he were to become my son-in-law…"

 _Minato stood looking up at the giant fox, as the rest of the Leaf ninja put their lives on the line to protect their home. He realized, there was only one way to end the Bijuu's assault. He bellowed to me, "Jiraiya-sensei, please summon Gamabunta, I need him to hold the Kyūbi in place for a few seconds."_

 _I stared into the eyes of my son in all but name, and witnessed the resolve in Minato's eyes, I nodded. I bit my right thumb, and yelled, "Summoning Jutsu" a huge puff of smoke cleared, revealing the largest toad many had ever seen. He was red on top, with a beige underbelly, but what would have caught most people's attention, if they were not preoccupied with fighting the fox, the toad was wearing a giant kimono jacket, and carrying a massive tanto. Gamabunta noticed the rampaging Bijuu, and knew why he was summoned. Giving a massive hop, he landed on the fox' back. Now, a ten-ton toad landing on your back would hurt anybody, it certainly shook the Kyūbi._

 _As soon as I began the summoning, Minato began flashing hand signs, and chanting. Then he shouted, while slamming his hands into the ground, **"Fuinjutsu: Shiki Fujin"** and immediately the Shinigami, with pale, white flesh and long hair, appeared, with a knife clamped in its jaws. Removing the knife from its maw, and opening its own belly, chains shot out and wrapped themselves around the kitsune, another set shot out impaling Minato, the caster. Gamabunta jumped away, lest he share their fate. They were the chains of death, while bijuu have an extremely long lifespan they are not immortal, and like all mortal creatures must surrender to Death's embrace. The Fox resisted, what sentient creature wouldn't, it almost escaped Death's grasp, but Gamabunta stepped forward, and punched it in the face. The punch left it dazed, and no longer able to resist, it was dragged into the gaping black hole._

"As you know Kushina, since it was invented by the Uzumaki clan, this sealing jutsu demands a heavy price; the life of the caster. As soon as the monster fox was pulled into the Shinigami, the life of your husband was the price for the sealing," Jiraiya concluded his tale, then pulled Kushina into him, hugging her while she cried.

Suddenly as if sensing his mother's distress, her baby boy began crying, which snapped her out of her sorrow. As much as she wanted to wallow in her grief, Uzumaki-Namikaze Kushina, Kunoichi of the Village Hidden in the Leaves, clan leader of the House Uzumaki, known as Akai Shi (Red Death) in the bingo book, did not have time to let grief consume her. She had a legacy to pass on, a memory to give to her son, the son of the Fourth Hokage, Namikaze Minato would grow up not knowing his father, but would know of him. She gathered her baby, and rocked him until he went back to sleep.

Tsunade knelt next to Kushina, smoothing her hair back, "Did you and Minato-kun, decide on names for the boy?"

The new mother nodded, and lifted the boy, "meet Uzumaki-Namikaze Naruto," and lifting her son, "and I expect great things from him."

* * *

Ramble On…

Kushina was the last Jinchuriki of the Nine-tailed Fox, she was pregnant with Naruto when it broke loose, as she went into labor. In a since Kurama and Naruto were brothers, and there appear to have been a few genetic alterations made to her son by the Kyubi's imprisonment. For example, Naruto's senses have been amplified to those of a fox. The slightly pointed ears have allowed him to hear a pin drop in another room, his vertical eyes give him excellent night vision, and while the whisker marks look like birthmarks, they are quite sensitive. That along with his ears, allow him to sense the difference in air pressure, and locate unseen obstacles even when he cannot see them. These three senses coupled with a fox's keen sense of smell, combine to make Naruto as at home at night, in the dark, or in low visibility as he is in the daylight, or on a clear day. Unlike most children, Naruto was never afraid of the dark, and had an excellent sense of direction.

Times were tough for the Uzumaki, the first three years after the attack, but with help from, the Senju, the Inuzuka, Hyuga Hitomi and Uchiha Mikoto, things did not stay bleak for long. Naruto would stay with one of these four clans, when Kushina was on missions, always B or above. The Inuzuka actually helped Naruto learn to use his senses, since they had similar issues with their own enhanced senses. Because of her determination, to never leave her son an orphan, Kushina, became especially ruthless, and brutal, and her reputation increased in the bingo book with the shinobi villages, rising from 'approach with caution' to 'flee on site'. Among her more famous battles, those involving the Seven Ninja Swordsmen were her most significant accomplishments, she fought and defeated all seven, killing six, and destroying all but three of their weapons, she brought Kiba-ken back as a souvenir, allowed Kubikiribōchō to be kept by its owner, and mailed Hiramekarei back to Kirigakure.

Other than missions, her greatest joy in life was raising, and training her son. Naruto who was a happy, but stubborn child. _Much like his mother,_ according to her friends, _but_ I _don't see it._ She never found more peace, and tranquility than watching him take his first steps; holding his first kunai; practicing the first kata of the Uzumaki taijutsu: Kyokutan'na ken (Extreme Fist); or Namikaze taijutsu: Anaake tsume (Drilling claw), and Uzumaki kenjutsu: Whirlpool Sword. She was proud to call him an Uzumaki, because Naruto was strong, but also intelligent and thoughtful. She realized early on he had an eidetic memory, and a cunning mind, she nurtured those skills.

Kushina would take Naruto with her, when she trained, and he would watch her movements. One day when he was three, she was training the basic kata of Kyokutan'na, he stood up and began imitating her almost perfectly, with only a wobble here and there. She was unaware of this, until she turned during a movement, and just stopped. She watched him, _my little boy is going to be a great ninja, **dattebane**_ , she thought as tears began welling up in her eyes. That was the day Naruto, began training to be a ninja.

Three years later, Naruto reached for his twin wakizashi, both sheathed at his left hip, one along his leg, the other posterior to the first blade, and parallel to his hips, his eyes narrowed as he assessed his opponent. He charged her at an oblique angle, the first blade cleared the scabbard, in an underhanded draw, when within ten feet of his opponent, producing a reverse slash intending to cut her thigh. Naruto's second blade came free, simultaneously in an angled overhand slash, fully intended to disembowel his opponent. His opponent reacted with lightning fast reflexes by twisting her thigh out of the way, and back stepped bringing her sword smashing into the back of Naruto's adding energy to his swing, causing him to lose balance.

 _The first attack is always a feint_ , quoted one of his friend's parents. Accepting the extra energy, and adding some of his own, Naruto spun around to take a swipe at his opponent's feet. She hopped back just out of his range, bringing her sword, a full-bladed O-katana, down swiftly, to slice him down the middle. Naruto was nobody's fool even as a six-year old one day before joining the academy, he knew that blocking someone with her strength would be futile, and a useless waste of energy. He launched forward into a run, he moved faster than even he believed possible, he parried the slash to the side using his swords, running along the length of hers, causing a small spark. Swiftly the red-headed woman enveloped the blades, and disarmed her son, sending his weapons and her own flying, out of the ring.

Naruto grabbed her hand and moving below her center of gravity, and using her forearm as a lever, elbow as a fulcrum applied force to it and flipped her into the air. Kushina followed the angular momentum landing on her feet, before spinning to deliver a powerful punch to her son's face. Naruto spun around, avoiding the blow by spinning counterclockwise, delivering a powerful kick to her knee, which Kushina deflected by bringing her shin up.

What followed were a powerful series of blows, kicks, throws and counter throws, that left a cloud of dust billowing through the still air, obscuring everything surrounding them. When the dust finally settled, we see Kushina holding her son from behind, with a kunai at his throat. Both, wearing grim expressions, when suddenly, Kushina grinned and clamped her mouth on his neck giving him a very blatant hickey. Naruto laughed, and said, "okasan, _stooop_ , that tickles," he squirmed.

Kushina laughed with him, letting him go, "That was for doing such a good job this morning, you held me off even when I was using 25% of my fighting strength."

Naruto turned around and threw his arms around her neck, and planting an innocent kiss on his mother's lips, which she returned gently, "That's because I want to make you and oto-sama in Heaven, proud and be a strong ninja like my okasan."

Kushina smiled hugging her son, "I am already proud of you, my musuko-kun, and remember strength, true strength comes from a strong character, and strong mind, none of those can be gained without hard-work and tenacity, do you understand?"

Little Naruto piped up saying, "Hai, okasan."

Kushina smiled and kissed him again before standing up, "That's my musuko-kun," she said while pulling him to his feet. "You have an hour of shuriken/ kunai practice, then I want you to get started on your chores."

Kushina Uzumaki made her way inside to start breakfast for her and Naruto. She could hear the loud 'THUNK' into the targets as her musuko-kun practiced the Uzumaki nindō. She could not have been prouder of her son. Today he had begun to test her with his fighting prowess, and for a six-year-old that was genius level. It was true she was only using a quarter of her skill, yet that was enough to subdue any chunin level ninja. It had been a purely physical challenge today, no ninjutsu, chi or even chakra enhancement was allowed by either of them. Still for him to manage to hold her off at six, even if she did eventually overcome him, was breathtaking for a mother, and promising as an Uzumaki.

The Uzumaki are a powerful clan, often called Bijuu without tails, because of their massive chakra coils. They were naturally talented in fuinjutsu and kenjutsu, able to read and understand seals with no instruction, and pick up sword techniques after a single demonstration. Of course, a true Uzumaki did not let their natural talents go to their head. They may be able to read and figure out seals instinctively, but still needed to start training at the beginner level. True Uzumaki also trained like dogs in kenjutsu and taijutsu to be considered true masters by other Uzumaki. Kushina Uzumaki would do her best to instill the concept of hard-work and persistence over talent and privilege, that many of the Clans of Konohagakure espoused.

Another name many people associate with Uzumaki is 'Immortals' because of their long life, many reaching their 200th birthday, attributed because of an incredible life force, they called chi. The Uzumaki kekkei genkai, Kikko, is the ability to harness and manipulate chi. They are extremely resistant to diseases and most poisons, with godly endurance, they could bounce back from injuries that would leave most people crippled. All of that was without training of any kind in Kikko. A master of Kikko, may use chi to make organ functions more efficient and resilient, enhancing their healing abilities so well they can regenerate missing limbs or organs, even brain cells can heal.

Naruto finished his training and his morning chores before entering the kitchen and washing his hands. He had a basket full of eggs, and some vegetables from the garden. "Here, okasan, I get these from the chickens, and the veggies looked ripe."

Kushina smiled, "Arigato, musuko-kun that saves me a little time today." She looked at her son appraisingly, "Are you ready to start school tomorrow?"

Naruto smiled back, "Your welcome," then nodded his head excitedly, "I am totally ready, dattebayo, it'll be interesting to compare myself to other kids and see how I measure up."

His mother just grinned before admonishing him, "Remember it's not a competition, the other students you'll be competing against, once you graduate, could very well wind up on your team, 'ttebayo."

Her son nodded his head, "I know, okasan, but _healthy_ competition weeds out the lazy, because those same students could end up on my team and get me killed."

Kushina was silent as she listened to her six-year-old's reasoning. What he said was true, there were many cases where a genin team would die, because it's members wound up skating through the academy. Whether they attended for glory, power, or were fan girls for certain clans. Which was why a few jonin began implementing their own tests to determine, if they were truly ready to be shinobi. "That's true, musuko-kun, a healthy rivalry may be a good way, to screen out those attending for the wrong reasons. Just don't forget, that after all is said and done, we're all members of the same village."

Some nights, mother and son usually like to practice sensory training, playing tag as well as, hide & seek in the dark. These games trained both of them to use senses other than sight, such as Naruto's fox senses and Kushina's Sensory abilities, and trained them in stealth. They decided to skip such training tonight, since Naruto would be starting at the Ninja Academy in the morning. As Kushina tucked her greatest treasure into bed that night, she suddenly felt tears welling up inside her. _You would be so proud of him Minato-kun, he is a good, strong boy, and an even greater son._ She leaned down to kiss her already sleeping son on the forehead. She gave him one last look of love, before darkening the room and leaving.


	2. The First Day

Naruto's alarm blared, shocking him out of his dreams. He jumped out of bed and was on his feet in seconds, his okasan taught him to never linger in bed. Naruto began doing stretches to awaken his sleeping muscles, before stepping out of his fox pajamas, and into his training gear. He completed a few warm-up exercises, to prevent muscle cramping. Naruto jogged from his room to the door leading to the garden. He looked over seeing his mother already going through her training. Eyes blindfolded, kunai in hand, surrounded by several disk catapults attached to timers, set at different intervals. Naruto could feel her chi as it extended her senses, to encompass everything in the yard, including him. The catapults would sling disks made of clay in different directions, in random patterns thanks to the timers connected to them. Each catapult went off separately, and the clay disks flew out in an uneven pattern. Using skill and years of experience, Naruto's mom flung the kunai, every which way. Her entire body moving as one as the kunai intersected the disks in space and time.

By this time, Naruto reached his training grounds on the Uzumaki/Namikaze Estate (1), which consisted of a gravel floor, a six-foot-tall horizontal bar in the center, with a plank of oak the same height and at right angles to the horizontal. He dropped to the gravel floor, with closed fists and began five minutes' worth of push-ups, before rolling on his back to begin crunches, flutter-kicks, bicycle-kicks, whale-tails, and finally sit-ups, each exercise was five minutes long, and conducted at two repetitions per second. Naruto kick-flipped to a standing position, _I'll do a light work-out today, I don't wanna be too tired for my first day of school_ , he thought, and activated the resistance seals on his limbs and torso, he kept it at level one which meant gravity equal to his own body weight, and one and a half times the atmospheric pressure on his six-year-old body. He vaults up to the horizontal bar, wrists facing away from him, and began doing pull-ups for five minutes, before inverting his wrists to face himself and did the same number of chin-ups.

After completing those reps, he started swinging back and forth, gaining momentum until he was upside down, where he began moving sideways toward the wooden plank. The wooden plank was squared off, and just wide enough for him to curl the first knuckle of his fingers around it to strengthen his grip, and harden them into weapons. Naruto started out using the wide gripping fingers of the dragon's paw, then altering his grip by first closing the four fingers together to become the tiger's claw, then curling the ring and pinky fingers closed into the eagle talons, before tucking and pushing off against the plank, somersaulted to the floor. Naruto began a series of kata from the Uzumaki Kyokutan'na ken (2), and Namikaze Anaake tsume (3) taijutsu to begin cooling down.

After completing his morning workout and noticed his mother was absent from the yard. He returned to his room before heading to take a shower. Naruto donned an orange tiger-striped long-sleeved shirt, horizontal stripes down the front panel, vertical stripes down the sleeves and backside, with the scarlet-red Uzumaki swirl on the back, and the sunset-orange Namikaze cyclone on the front. He also wore tiger striped cargo pants, in the same pattern as the shirt, with black shinobi sandals. A tiger striped boonie-hat and black ninja utility belt for his ninja tools. He came down quickly just as his okasan, Kushina Uzumaki was setting a breakfast of steamed rice, miso ramen soup, and grilled fish on the table. She looked up, "Ohayō musuko-kun," and smiled lovingly at her son, "come and eat, you have a big day, believe it."

"Ohayō kāsan," he replied, entering seiza around the table, and returning her smile with an excited one of his own, "I know, and I remember what we discussed about not standing out, and practicing deception, believe it." Naruto began to eat rapidly, as his mother reminded him of the things they talked about over the last week.

His okasan, nodded as he spoke, "Good, except for tests and exams, you are not to stand out either above or below the other students, never allow anyone to know the full extent of your strength."

He nodded, "I promise, I will keep my true abilities under wraps, except for tests and exams." She smiled, and they finished their breakfast, and headed for the door.

On a rack by the door were three swords; on the topmost rack was a O-katana, below the larger sword were two wakizashi. Kushina removed the O-katana, and placed it around her back slanted to the right shoulder. Naruto collected the twin wakizashi and placed them on his left hip, in the double-draw formation he preferred, opposite his shinobi pouch. Kushina looked at him and with a serious face said, "Alright, Naruto recite the Uzumaki Oath of the Blade."

Naruto draws both of his swords and began, "These are my blades. There are many like them, but these two are mine. My blades are my best friends. They are my life. I must master them as I must master my life. Without me, my blades are useless. Without my blades, I am useless. I must swing my blades true. I must slash faster than my enemy who is trying to kill me. I must stab them before they stab me. I will…

"My blades and I know what counts in battle are not the duels we fight, the wind of our attacks, nor the blood we shed. We know that only hits count. We will hit…

"My blades are human, even as I, because they are my life. Thus, will I honor them as my brothers. I will learn their weaknesses, their strengths, parts, accessories, tsuba and hilt. I will keep my blades sharp and ready, even as I am sharp and ready. We will become part of each other. We will…

"Before Kami-sama, I swear this creed. My blades and I are the defenders of my village. We are the masters of our enemies. We are the saviors of my life. So be it, until victory belongs to the Uzumaki, and there are no enemies, and peace reigns!" Kushina drew her own blade and repeated after him. And with that they left for Naruto's first day at the Konoha Ninja Academy.

* * *

Konoha Ninja Academy

The Konoha Ninja Academy was a long red-brick building, with over 6,000 square yards in area. It was founded by Nidaime Hokage, Senju Tobirama and Uchiha Nodachi, for general education purposes and teaching ninja basics. The curriculum consists of extensive language, mathematics, history, and science classes, and training in Hidden Leaf ninpō. Many students of the school for shinobi come from established clans, and already had their own traditions, thus the curriculum for ninja training was looked upon as a review of their own basic skills.

The last two Uzumaki clan members, stepped through the gate into the schoolyard. The parents of children attending the academy loitered in the yard, while their children ran around playing. There were only five other kids that stood out to Naruto, two other boys and three girls. He was excited because he knew two of the girls.

An ebonette (A/N: black-hair) with bangs in side-swept French-braid hair going to her shoulder, olive skin and coal black eyes. She wore a short-sleeved, high-collared, midnight blue blouse, a light gray knee-length skirt, and ninja sandals the same shade as her blouse. A utility belt the same color as her blouse completed her outfit. Uchiha Sakura, the middle child and only daughter of the Uchiha head family, standing next to her mother Uchiha Mikoto, and _my mother's best friend_.

Standing next to the two Uchiha women, Mikoto's twin brother, Uchiha-Senju Hiro with his wife the Senju clan head, Senju Hiroko and daughter, Uchiha-Senju Yoshiko. Yoshiko was the spitting image of her grandmother, Godaime Hokage, Senju Tsunade, with the white hair of Jiraiya her grandfather in twin-braids to her waist, with the dark eyes and olive skin of her father's clan. Yoshi-chan wore her usual attire consisting of a gray leopard-patterned short shirt kimono and matching pants, under which she wears mesh armor visible at her wrists and ankles. She was also wearing hand guards, a black belt with ninja pouch attached, traditional wooden sandals, and grass-green haori with the kanji for "lucky" (幸運な, Kōun'na) written down the back, inside a cartouche.

The other three were unknown to Naruto. The last girl, has black hair in two panda-style buns on her head with short fringe-bangs framing her face, and grey eyes. She was wearing a red short-sleeved qipao-style blouse, with yellow sleeve trimmings, fastening buttons, and hot pink capri pants.

One of the boys, had fair skin with long black hair tied into a loose pony-tail, and all white eyes with no pupils that were narrowed in anger, on his forehead, was a small headband with two straps that frame the sides of his face. He wore a beige-colored shirt, a dull blue shirt beneath that, and mesh armor, with dark brown shorts, blue shinobi sandals, and wrapped bandages around his right arm, chest, and right leg. _White eyes, I wonder if he's related to Hinata-chan?_

The last boy that stood out, had shiny, long-braided, black hair, round eyes with prominent lower eyelashes, and very thick eyebrows _his brows look like a couple of caterpillars are nesting on his face._ He wore a white, short-sleeved kimono-shirt with a martial arts belt and dark pants, and shinobi sandals.

The Senju and Uchiha turned as soon as the Uzumaki came through the gate. Wearing the swords in plain view was the hallmark of the whirlpool clan, even those who did not know them personally can always spot an Uzumaki. Sakura and Yoshiko broke away from her mother to sprint over to their best friend. "Naru-nii," they screamed! They reached him and started pulling him into an excited hug, only the hilts of his swords prevented the hug from getting tighter.

Naruto stepped back, "One second, Saku-chan, Yoshi-chan," he said holding up a finger. He removed the sheathed swords from their harnesses, and sealed them both into his left arm. "Now, let's try that again." He brought each of them into another hug, this time he gave as good as he got. They suddenly heard small chuckles coming from either side of them.

They broke their hug and remembering their manners bowed behind each other, "Ohayōgozaimasu, Uchiha-sama, Senju-sama, Uchiha-Senju-san/Uzumaki-sama," they chorused.

Mikoto and Hiroko returned the bow then knelt down, and wrapped him in their own hugs, "You don't have to be so formal with us, Naruto-oi. We're practically family," Mikoto instructed, kissing him on the cheek.

"Mom and dad are your godparents, Naruto-otōto," Hiroko added, kissing him on the forehead. Hiroko looked just like her mother, with Jiraiya's white hair and toad markings.

Hiro walked over offering his hand for Naruto to shake, and spoke to him man to man, "You excited for school, Gikyōdai? I don't know about, nee-chan, I was a nervous wreck my first day here."

Kushina knelt first hugging, Sakura then Yoshiko, "Sakura-mei, Yoshiko-mei, what did I tell you to call me," she asked in mock sternness?

They giggled demurely, "Oba-chan," they chorused.

Kushina smiled at them as lovingly as she would her son, "I'm going to give you two a mission. Do you think you can handle it?"

The two girls stood up straighter, "Hai," they said loudly, as they listened to their hero give them a mission.

"I want you to look out for my Naruto-kun, and protect him, from himself and others who would use him. Think you can do that?"

"Hai!" They gave Kushina a curt nod, and walked over on either side of Naruto, and clasped one arm each. They started steering him toward the entrance as their parents giggled and guffawed.

Just before they entered Hiro bellowed, "Take care of the princesses, Namikaze-Uzumaki Naruto-san," he demanded formally.

Naruto stopped just before going inside, "Rikai, oji-san. I promise!" The girls blushed at this declaration, then they were out of sight.

Once they were inside, Kushina, Mikoto and Hiroko's eyes started to well up. It had taken all their ninja training, not to do it in front of their children. The ironic part was they would not be crying, if they did not know in their hearts their children were ready. Hiro walked over and shielding them from view of others, placed his arm around his wife's waist, and his hand on his sister's back to rub her back. The mistress of the Senju, and wife of the master of Uchiha, both powerful kunoichi and still active, leaned into their husband and brother accepting this closeness. While the Red-Death herself looked on in envy, before Mikoto and Hiroko both pulled her into their embrace.

* * *

In the Classroom

Upon entering the classroom, through the sliding door, the trio looked around at their surroundings. The classroom was twenty by thirty by fifteen feet square, there were seven desks, rising steadily into the back, with each desk capable of seating three people. The walls were paint a bland beige, and far wall held a bank of windows reaching from the front to the back.

The three-prospective ninja, walked over and took the seat closest to the window, near the front. They waited patiently, chitchatting about small things, and just renewing their familiarity. Other students streamed in at random intervals. The kid with caterpillar brows, came in right after the trio and sat in the desk opposite them and sat rather nervously. A few other students came in and sat at different places, when the panda-bun girl came in and sat behind them. After setting her stuff down, she looked around and noticed the three of them. She walked down, and stood in front grinning in a friendly manner, and said, "Ohayo, my name is Higurashi Tenten," she said, extending her hand.

They returned the friendly grin and replied, "Ohayōgozaimasu, I'm Namikaze-Uzumaki Naruto/Uchiha Sakura/Uchiha-Senju Yoshiko, pleasure/pleased to meet/...to make your acquaintance, Tenten-san. Any of your family shinobi," asked Sakura? When Naruto shook her hand, he noticed how tough and calloused they were, worker's hands, and the strength of her grip belied the frailty of her frame. _She's stronger than she looks, and not afraid of hard work._

Tenten brightened at their greetings and question, she shook her head, "No, my dad's a retired jonin, and runs the Higarashi Weapons Shop. We sell and forge our own, and other's weapons."

Sakura smiled, "You must help your dad out a lot, don't you?"

Tenten nodded proudly, "Yes, I do, but how did you know?"

"Your hands remind me of the weapons smith, and other hard-working personnel on the Uchiha Estate," Sakura observed. "That's really cool, it probably means getting palm strikes from you in taijutsu, is really going to hurt," she added with a shudder. Tenten was wide-eyed, but try as she might she could not extract any type of ridicule, or haughtiness from the Uchiha. Naruto knew that none would be forthcoming, because Sakura was unlike most Uchiha, from her father Fugaku, to her five-year-old, brother Sasuke, excluding her five-years-older brother Itachi, and mother, she was gracious with others.

"You think my hands are cool for being rough," Tenten asked, in astonishment? "Anybody, who shakes hands with me, has always made fun of them, my oba-san calls them man hands."

Sakura only smiled, and nodded, before adding, "maybe if you were going into another profession, like weaving or knitting or something, but for a kunoichi they're just a start. My mom, and aunts' hands are rougher than yours, and they're powerful kunoichi."

Tenten's smile could have lit up a new moon night sky, she suddenly lurched forward and hugged Sakura. "Thank you, thank you, thank you," she cried, "I have been made fun of for not being a girly girl, that I thought I would never make any friends."

At this Naruto spoke up, "You came over here, and stuck out your hand to shake thinking, we might make fun of you?" Tenten looked at him and quietly nodded, "That's… wow… that takes some guts, you came over here hoping for the best, but ready for the worst. When we graduate in six years, if I don't get on a team with these two, then I hope it's with you Tenten-chan." At that, Tenten blushed mightily, and smirked demurely his statement.

During the time these four were talking, the rest of the class had assembled. The male Hyuuga had entered, marching into the seventh, and last desk on the last rise, and sat on the side facing the windows. There was a tone causing Tenten to rush back to her seat. The door slid open, and one of the most beautiful women, Naruto has ever seen walked into the classroom, only his mom, Mikoto-oba-san, Hiroko-nee-san, Sakura-chan and Yoshi-chan, rivaled her exquisite form.

She had fair-skin, and slender build. She had long, black, untamed hair, reaching her upper back, and very unique eyes that are red in color, with an additional ring in them. She wore make-up consisting of red lipstick, and purple eye shadow. She wore the standard chunin Konoha shinobi outfit, with a flak jacket, and a simple sleeveless red outfit underneath it. She stood in front of the classroom, looking at them with cool reason. She gave them all a thin smile, that melted the hearts of all the boys, causing the girls to groan, "Ohayōgozaimasu, class my name is Yuuhi Kurenai, I will be your sensei while you go through the Academy."


	3. Gaki Games

Three Years Ago

 _The second year of the academy introduced the shōrai (1) no ninja to their elemental affinities. The second day of that year, Yuuhi-sensei brought in chakra paper. "Alright class let us review what we went over yesterday about elemental affinities." For some reason Yuhi-sensei had the most attentive students in the academy, though she never knew why. The results from last year showed she had the highest average scores of all the classes that year. "Can anybody tell me what the main elemental affinities may be," she asked? Several hands shot up, she pointed to Yoshiko._

" _Like, kasai (fire), mizu (water), kaze (wind), chikyu (earth), and kaminari (lightning)," she said with a giggle._

" _That's correct, Uchiha-Senju-san," she replied with a smile, "according to legend, who is the only person to ever have all five?" She pointed to Tenten._

" _The Sage of the Six-Paths, Yuuhi-sensei," Tenten supplied._

" _That is correct, Higarashi-san. While a clear majority have only one affinity, some have two, few have three, and having four, extremely rare," the teacher said. Then reaching into her desk and pulled out several square pieces of paper. Holding them up she said, "These are known as chakra shihen (paper slips), when you add chakra to them they react in certain ways that allow us to learn your affinity." She takes one of the shihen and channel some chakra into it, the shihen in her hand ignites and burns to ash. "My nature is fire," she said to the stunned children, "if it were wind the shihen would split in half, water dampens them, earth crumbles, and lightning wrinkles it. What this means class is while I can use any jutsu regardless of affinity, I can more easily use and learn fire jutsu; it is also less taxing for me to use fire molded chakra as well."_

 _Yuuhi-sensei continued, "Today, we are going to learn and record each of your chakra affinities," Lee's hand shot up, but the educator cut him off, "there is another method that can be employed, to find out chakra affinity." With that she took out a needle, and pricked her finger, spreading a small drop of blood upon another piece of chakra paper. The results were the same as before. Lee put his hand down, while sensei added a fingertip band-aid._

 _Yuuhi-sensei began passing out the chakra shihen to the rest of the class, with instructions not to do anything until she tells them otherwise. As she was doing this, the class having learned the elementary skill of chakra sensing, and Naruto sniffing the air, turned to the door, just before it opened. In walked, a fair-skinned woman of average height and slender build with onyx eyes and jet-black hair; her hair was straight, shoulder-length with bangs that cover her ears and framed her face. As normal, Shizune Kato was wearing a long bluish-black kimono with white trim, held closed by a white obi, and open-toed sandals with low heels. She worked as administrator to the hospital, and Hokage-sama's personal secretary._

 _Yoshiko gasped and giggled, "Shizune-oba-chan," and rushed over to give her aunt-figure a hug, "what are you doing here?"_

 _Returning the hug with a smile and hug of her own, Shizune replied, "it's good to see you, Yoshi-mei-chan (niece), and I'll tell you what I'm doing here, but need to tell the whole class, as well." Shizune let Yoshiko head back to her seat to the left of Naruto. Before waving to their teacher, "With your permission Kurenai-san, I would like to address your class."_

 _Yuuhi-sensei returned the wave, "Of course, Shizune-san, go right ahead."_

 _Shizune smiled kindly at the students, "I am here to record all of your affinities to help the Hokage determine who to place as your Jonin-sensei when you graduate. I will go around the room with your sensei and watch you in the affinity test and record your affinities." Yuhi-sensei returned to the front. "Ready, to begin Kurenai-san?"_

" _Ready, Shizune-san," she replied with a nod._

 _They started in the back and worked their way to the front, most including Neji Hyuga and Tenten were either fire or earth users. They reached the front with Naruto, Sakura, Yoshiko, and Lee, with two others. "Ok, Yoshi-chan," Shizune said, "place chakra into your chakra shihen, please."_

" _Hai, oba-chan," she said, while doing as asked, which crumbled, before dampening, then flared into fire and burning to ashes._

 _Shizune said, in clear astonishment, "Yoshi-mei, you're an earth, water and fire user. That's incredible, having three affinities is very rare."_

 _Yoshiko smiled demurely and blushed a deep-red, "Arigatō, oba-san, Yuhi-sensei."_

 _They reach Naruto who channels his chakra into the paper, the paper split in half. "A wind user, excellent," Shizune said. They moved on to Sakura Uchiha who completed the exercise, which wrinkles. "Interesting, Sakura-san, you are a lightning user." They moved on to Lee, and Shizune being a isha-nin (medic ninja) helped him draw some blood. His paper became wet. The last two to test were fire and earth respectively._

 _When Naruto got home from school on the day of the affinity test, he excitedly told his mother about his wind affinity. "That's wonderful, Naruto and because I am also a wind user, and so was your father, I can add elemental manipulation to your training," Kushina exclaimed. "Come outside, musuko-kun." (son) Once they reached the training grounds, they reviewed chakra control exercise: leaf sticking. After over a year of practice, Naruto could cover his whole body in leaves, he even moved the leaves around his body. "Now, it is against the Godaime's law to teach civilians or academy students any jutsu, except the three basic jutsu that all ninja must know, of which we can only teach it to academy students, but we can teach academy students how to manipulate your elements."_

 _Looking confused, Naruto asked, "What do you mean, kāsan?"_

 _Kushina smiled at his enthusiasm, "Wind, is the most versatile force of nature, even more so than water. Wind can be cutting or it can be blunt, it can be as still and silent as death, only to become active and highly excited a moment later. As a wind user, it is not only wind itself you can manipulate, but any gaseous matter on the periodic table of elements. Wind is one of the mediums along with water that causes erosion, which even the mightiest mountains are not immune to, and it all starts with this," Kushina said, holding up a single leaf._

 _Naruto looked confused, "A leaf?"_

" _Yes, my son, a leaf," she replied. "Because, as a leaf is your first step in chakra control, it is also your first step in wind manipulation." She noticed her son's skepticism, "just watch." She looked at the leaf and gathered her chakra, when a gust of wind passed through the leaf, touching nothing else, the leaf separated into two perfectly cut sections. The last Jinchuriki of the Nine tailed Fox, picked up another leaf and handed it to her nonplussed son. "Would you like to get started, musuko-kun?" All her son could do, was nod._

Three Years Ago: Kai

Three years after starting the leaf cutting wind exercise, Naruto has advanced to stone cutting. Combining leaf cutting with chakra control he could cut every leaf sliding over his body and not even scratch his clothing. The first time he tried it however, left him in the buff with severe lacerations.

His other skills, Hidden Leaf style, the Uzumaki Kyokutan'na ken, and Namikaze Anaake tsume taijutsu including; kiko taijutsu (2), Uzumaki Taikyokuken (3), Uzumaki no mizu ken (4) and Uzumaki no keii-ken (5), are high genin levels; bukijutsu, to understand how to fight against other weapons, at low genin level thanks to Tenten; his kenjutsu, kunaijutsu & shurikenjutsu skills, are high genin level, and growing in every way.

In addition to training his ninja skills, Naruto liked to study kugaku (6) and kishō-gaku (7). At the behest of his mother, Naruto, began reading science books to allow him to understand the world around him. After reading many books he started observing and experimenting. He started with the chickens they kept on the property, studying their organs while butchering them for food. He also studied the rock formations of the Hokage mountain, studying the effects of erosion on the faces, comparing them to other parts of the mountain. His favorite subject by far to study is chemistry, and using chemistry was able to invent several compounds that he has learned to incorporate into his ninja arsenal, to help supplement his mother's income, and be of service to the village.

One such compound was a powerful, fast-acting lye, that he sold to ANBU, in the name of the Uzumaki-Namikaze clan, they used it to dispose of missing-nin. It was quite ingenious according to the council, it turned the bodies of animals into nutrients for the local environment in minutes, instead of days. What made it truly a work of art, if spilled on an unintended person, water rendered it completely inert, and any isha-nin could reduce the damage, though scars would always remain. Kushina's tag line when presenting it to the shinobi council was, "Missing-nin, traitors and executed criminals, useful in death, useless in life." Rumor has it, even the old war hawk, Danzo had a big grin when she said it.

A slow acting version was sold to butcher shops and T&I division. Butchers sold the results to farmers and flower shops. The Yamanaka's were especially proud of the flowers produced from using such fertilizer.

* * *

October 10, Four years after starting at the academy…

Naruto burst through the yellowish-red brush, running desperately, looking back over his shoulder. His surroundings blended well with his tiger striped clothes. Looking ahead, Naruto vaulted upon a twenty-foot-high branch, and began to bound from tree to tree. Behind him four-other people, lit upon the same branch the Uzumaki heir recently occupied. They recognized his diminishing back, surveying each other, and nodding before jumping after him. Two endured the chase by going right after Naruto. The other two began maneuvering to the left and right, in hopes of flanking him. Liting (8) upon another branch thinking to catch his breath, Naruto's danger sense tingles. He hurdles away just as multiple shuriken and kunai impact his previous position. Looking back, his eyes widen noticing only the two behind him. Surveying ahead, noting how close he was to his destination, Naruto redoubles his efforts, and tapping into his chakra and chi to give himself a boost.

Sniffing the air, he looks left noticing a familiar scent, he angles away from it, when from up wind to the right, a leg shot out across his throat, just as he jumped between trees, sending him plummeting to the ground. Just before he struck the ground, another form shot out of the forest and caught him in the head with a punch. "POOF" A plume of smoke cleared and a log was found in his place. Just barely noticing the change in air pressure he replaced himself with a log. Naruto came out from behind another branch, bounded right for the figure closest to the log, using her as a spring board, he bounced further up into the canopy. Naruto cleared another fifty yards before coming to rest on another branch.

He used the branch to slow his descent but as he reached another branch, the very one he was reaching for suddenly morphed into a person. It was too late for Naruto to change direction, so he flipped into a kick right into the other boy's sternum. The hit sent the other boy rocketing away, and added some extra power to Naruto's momentum. Naruto formed himself into a tumbling ball to reduce wind resistance, allowing him to go further down than expected. Rebounding off a tree close to the forest floor, he took off after landing running as fast as he could, which was pretty fast considering his gravity and resistance seals were set to level two now.

He did not make it more than a hundred yards before the other boy returned. There was a sudden 'WHOOSH' sound halting Naruto, as he stopped and leapt back a few paces. Good thing he did, because a five-foot wide, two-foot deep crater opened right where he was about to be. Out of the crater stepped Rock Lee, "That hit to my solar plexus, was a most youthful display of technique. If I had not cushioned the blow with my water manipulation abilities it would have incapacitated me." Rock Lee dropped into a Goken stance, and rocketed forward. Naruto fell into one of the Hidden Leaf style stances. It was quite ingenious really, so he would not insult his ancestors taijutsu styles, and fulfill his clan driven mission, Naruto decided to learn the academy style, and only use it when sparring at school or outside of the clan compound. Rock being one of Naruto's closest friends, outside of Yoshiko and Sakura, knew about his mission. Which just highlighted how weak and useless the style was when fighting any other style. So, Naruto just used the Leaf style to keep his basics from waning, and when he and Rock and the ladies were at his clan compound, he sparred with them in his family style.

Naruto shot forward launching his attack, adding momentum to his punch. Lee parried the blow with a ridge hand on the inside, knocking the arm wide, and leveling a palm strike at Naruto's chest. Naruto continued, adding momentum to the spin and elbowed the thoracic vertebrae of Rock's spine, making him grunt and fall forward. He dove forward and onto his feet, with a pained expression on his face. Both sprang forward unloading a barrage of kicks and punches, counterattacks, throws, and counter throws, as fast as they could, before a palm strike from Naruto, and a round kick from Lee pushed them both away from each other.

Rock stood tall immediately, and saluted his opponent, "Yosh, that was an excellent example of the Leaf style properly used in a fight, my eternal rival and friend." The other boy had changed quite a bit in the four years since, he and Naruto started the academy together. His hair had shortened into a fish bowl style, his normal mode of dress now, included navy blue, camouflage spandex, with midnight blue, leg and arm warmers which covered gravity and resistance seals, also set at level two. When he first started at the academy, he could not access his chakra caused by damaged chakra coils. He was in great despair, he even contemplated suicide, when he met a Jonin by the name of Maito Gai, who decided to take him on as an apprentice. For three long years, Rock Lee studied taijutsu, and bukijutsu (9) specializing in nunchakujutsu, wore green-spandex with orange arm and leg warmers, which covered actual weights, and became a genius of hard-work. During that time, Naruto and Lee became great friends, second only to Sakura and Yoshiko, and Tenten respectively.

However, eighteen months ago, Lee underwent a revolutionary new therapy, invented by Dr. Hitomi Hyuga, wife of the clan leader, kunoichi of the Hidden Leaf, also known in the Bingo book, as the Gentle Killer/Destroyer. Using the Byakugan, she was able to repair Rock Lee's chakra coils and allow him to access his chakra. Using the discipline learned from Gai about hard work, Lee caught up to and even surpassed most of the class in chakra control. Not wanting to dismiss everything Gai-sensei taught him, he still trains in taijutsu and bukijutsu, but adds chakra control and elemental manipulation exercises to his training regimen. Also, while he still wears the same _style_ of clothes as Gai-sensei, he has altered the color to reflect his elemental affinity, water.

Suddenly, three figures dropped out of the canopy, right in front of them. The two boys took on a wary look, as the three young ladies gave them baleful glares. Yoshiko and Sakura stalked over to Naruto, and both grabbed him by an ear. "OWOW, what's that for, you two."

Sakura smacked him in the back of the head, "That was for using me like a trampoline, to make your escape."

"Hey, one of you kicked me in the throat, I call that just grounds," Naruto said with indignation.

Both girls widened their eyes, then lowered them, before Yoshiko lifted her head into an evil grin. "You're right, Naruto-kun, c'mere," she took his face in his hands, bringing it closer to her own. Naruto was suddenly red faced, as their faces came closer, his eyes closed as he got near her lips. When suddenly she switched low and kissed his throat where an angry red welt existed. "There I kissed it and made it all better."

Over near the trees, they could hear Tenten chewing out her best friend. Lee was hanging his head, looking dejected and accepting her verbal beat down. After, coming to the end of her tirade, she pulled him into a hug, and darted a kiss on his cheek. Then taking his hand in hers, Tenten gave the other three academy students a wave, before she took to the trees, pulling Lee with her.

Seeing the others leave, Naruto took off the missing-nin forehead protector, the game of "Catch the Nuke-nin" also known as ninja tag, a game invented for aspiring shinobi, was over for now. The missing-nin or 'It' wore a headband with the symbol NIN with a scratch through it, since most nuke-nin wear similar headbands with their village symbol scratched out. The other participants, used any means short of lethal, to capture or tag the missing-nin.

Naruto looked at the sun and noticing the time, said, "Oh hey, Sakura, you and me gotta get home. We better get a move on if we want to get ready for later. Your okasan and my okasan are away on a mission." Naruto unsealed his blades, the two wakizashi, long since replaced by twin tsurugi (11) still on his left hip, and strapped them on connecting the by a buckle with the Uzumaki-Namikaze crest emblazoned upon it.

Sakura crossed her arms, looking away in mock indignation, "I know that, which is why I'm going to be staying at the Senju estate this weekend, to get ready. Okasan, told me and Sasuke-imoto to stay at Yoshi-chan's this weekend."

Naruto smiled, "Then I'll escort you two to your destination, then go get ready myself," he said in excitement. "It's so cool having my birthday on a holiday, it's like a village wide party just for you," his eyes clouded for a moment, "even though I know it's not for me, but for my Otosama and his sacrifice."

The two girls walked over to him and placed their arms through his, "come on, Naru-kun take us home and get back, we'll have a party just for you." They walked off arm in arm.


	4. To Put Away Childish Things

October 10, 7 pm; Uchiha Estate…

The Uchiha along with the Senju are the founding clans of the Hidden Leaf Village. Though none of them have held the office of Hokage, they have acted as the police force for the village. Using their clan's kekkei genkai, the Sharingan, they have become respected, feared, and loathed, due to some members of the clan's propensity for stealing jutsu. Under the leadership of Uchiha Fugaku, along with his wife Mikoto, the Uchiha unbeknownst to her, have begun plotting a coup d'état to overthrow the Fifth Hokage and her administration. Not all Uchiha were in on the coup, namely Fugaku's wife and children, and cousin Shisui, so to pull it off successfully he decided to begin at midnight, the night of the Kyūbi festival, tonight. As fortune, would have it his eldest son Itachi, nephew Shisui, and Mikoto, had been sent away on a mission for ANBU, stationed with the Guardians of the Daimyō, and aiding in an escort mission for the Shrine Maidens, in that order. Out of nowhere, Uchiha Itachi appears in front of his father, his mission now beginning…

Two weeks ago, …

 _Fortune, had nothing to do with it, Uchiha Shisui found out about the coup, and informed Mikoto of the plot, yet by the time that happened, it was too late to stop. Therefore, he and Mikoto went to the Hokage, and informed Tsunade of everything they knew about the plot, and with tears in her eyes, and shame in his, swore on the lives of Mikoto's children, they knew nothing about it, until it was too late. It was fortunate, Itachi was in the Hokage's office when his mother, and cousin came in, because he heard everything his traitorous father was plotting, and for once he broke his iron discipline._

 _There was no love lost between Itachi and his father, that was for damn sure, but he never thought Fugaku would be so ambitious, as to put the entire clan, and the village in jeopardy. Itachi was_ **shaking** _with rage, and doing everything in his power to remain still. It did not work, because Tsunade and his family felt his Killing Intent (KI), even if while trying to mask it. " **Raven** , front-and-center," the Hokage snapped, "the rest of you, **get out**!" The other three ANBU guards left, quick and silent as shadows. He was there, before she closed her mouth. "Remove your mask," she ordered. He did._

 _Mikoto gasped, "Itachi!" Shisui's eyes widened, "Itoko!"_

 _Tsunade held up a hand, forestalling their dialogue, "I take it, you disapprove of your father's plot?"_

" _Yes, Hokage-sama, I **do** , the village is more important than any single clan, even a founding member," he said, letting passion enter his voice!_

 _Tsunade studied him to determine if he was acting or being truthful. She decided to test him, "So, what do you think should be done to thwart this insurrection, Shinobi?"_

 _Itachi considered the carpet as he pondered, trying to come up with the best resolution for everybody, then he came to the only answer, that would cause the least amount of harm to the village. He surveyed his family members, the resolution wide in his eyes, yet he could not say it out loud. Regrettably, they came to the same decision he did, they looked in his eyes and hardened their hearts against their clan. The three of them, turned to the Hokage and together they said it, "Extermination of the entire clan, to the last person, before their plot can come to pass."_

 _Tsunade constricted her eyes, "I suppose, I could have ANBU…"_

" _NO," Itachi shouted! "No," he said again softly, "I will do it, and it cannot be a mystery over who did it, there must be a witness, or some evidence pointing to me."_

" _Why do you feel it necessary to do this yourself, Itachi," the Hokage asked?_

" _Because, the rebellion must be kept secret, if there is one thing most people love talking about, it's a good mystery, if nobody knows whodunit, then there will always be snoops looking for clues." He reflected some more upon it, "Besides, it's my clan, and it is my job to take responsibility for what goes on inside it, even… its demise."_

 _Mikoto's eyes were filling with tears, and she silently cursed her husband for leading Itachi to this decision, "Itachi, if you do this you will become a missing-nin, hunted for the rest of your life." Shisui could not speak, his throat thick with emotion, and eyes downcast in disgrace at his own cowardice, because he could never volunteer to assassinate his clan, but rely on another to do it._

" _I know, haha-sama," he said, quietly, "but I cannot think of another way for us to put down the coup, and still allow the Uchiha to still retain some honor. If I do this, then it will just be me, who will lose everything, you, Shisui, Sakura, and Sasuke will still have the possibility of retaining some respect." He looked to the Hokage for approval._

 _Senju Tsunade, considered the man before her, barely fifteen, and already assuming a burden that would destroy most men, twice his age. Finally, she nodded, and affirmed, "Very well, if you are committed to this course of action then, I will accept your resolve. Once you step out of this office, there will be no turning back, you must all see it through to the end." Tsunade looked at Mikoto, "and on the same night this is all taking place I will send you, Mikoto on a mission with your old team, Kushina and Hitomi, you may tell them what we discussed here then, understand?" She looked at Shisui and noted his shame, "Uchiha Shisui, I am sending you to replace Sarutobi Asuma, as a Guardian to the Daimyō. I need to inform the Daimyō of this turn of events anyway, and many of the official channels, even the clandestine ones may be compromised, therefore you will do it personally."_

 _Mikoto and Shisui nodded, and in unison, replied "Hai, Hokage-sama," giving a deep bow._

 _Shisui turned to Godaime Hokage and asked, "Hokage-sama, I have one request to ask of you before we adjourn."_

" _Very well," she said warily._

" _This incident will most likely awaken, Itachi's Mangekyō Sharingan, an advanced version of our Sharingan," Shisui explained, to which she nodded in understanding, "as powerful as it is, those who use the Mangekyō run the risk of going blind."_

 _Tsunade again, nodded in understanding, "I have read as much from my Oji-sama's notes concerning Uchiha Madara, where are you going with this, Shisui," she asked suspiciously? The other Uchiha were also looking at him curiously._

 _Shisui closed his eyes, when he opened them his eyes were active. They were configured in an octagram pattern,_ ۞ " _I have only used mine sparingly, from when I killed my brother for selling secrets to the enemy during the last war in Iwa, I still retain much of my vision. The only way to stop it however, is to take the eyes of another with the Mangekyō Sharingan."_

 _Tsunade's eyes were wide in understanding, "So, you want to exchange eyes with him, once he develops, the Mangekyō Sharingan."_

 _Shisui nodded, "Correct, Hokage-sama, it will be the only reward we can give Itachi, for his service to the village, and we only need to exchange a single eye for it to work."_

" _I'm not doing this for any reward," Itachi exclaimed in agitation, "who gets rewarded for killing their family?!"_

 _The Hokage for the first time smiled, "You are not being rewarded for killing your family, but for service to the Leaf. Shisui is being rewarded for the same thing, therefore I am allowing this to happen. One month after the coup attempt, we will meet in Tanzaku, where I will perform the operation myself."_

" _But, Hokage-sama…" Itachi began to protest._

" _I happen to agree with Tsunade-sama on this, musuko-kun," Mikoto chimed in, "you need to get something tangible out of this, or you might come to resent the Hidden Leaf, and turn against it." She enfolded her son into a tight hug, letting her tears begin to fall, "I will not let your sacrifice be in vain, not even by you, so as your superior, and your mother, I am ordering you to exchange eyes, with your cousin, when your Mangekyō Sharingan activates."_

 _Looking in her eyes, he kisses her cheek, and replies quietly, "Hai, Haha-dono."_

One week later, …

 _A week passed since, the meeting in the Godaime's office. During which, Shisui left for the capital, and Tsunade called in the students from her genin team: Uchiha Mikoto, Hyuga Hitomi and Uzumaki Kushina. She ordered them on an A-ranked escort mission from_ the capital of Kasai Daimyō (Fire Lord) _to_ Hi no Tera (Temple of Fire) in the mountains of Hi no Kuni (Fire Nation) _. No men were allowed on the mission, since Shrine Maidens had to remain pure, until they reached the temple._

 _They were only allowed to take the kunoichi of their own genin teams: Uzuki Yugao, Inuzuka Hana, and Mitarashi Anko, now all chunin, as back up. The request came from the Daimyō directly, who specifically requested which Jonin, he wanted for the mission, allowing the Hokage to add any extra personnel she saw fit, as long as they were women. They were to leave on the ninth. They would reach the capital within half a day, but would be slowed considerably since, the twenty Shrine Maidens while fit, were not up to the standards of kunoichi, they would reach the temple by the twelfth, and be back home no later than the thirteenth._

 _It was an incredible stroke of fortune, when the day they received their mission on the seventh, Mikoto's daughter came home excited, because her best friend, had asked her and her cousin, to accompany him to the festival. "That's wonderful, darling," she did not have to fake her enthusiasm. Naruto always had a special place in her heart, second only to her children, and well above her husband, especially now, "That'll go well with the birthday party, being held in his honor at the Senju estate." Mikoto smiled, "His mom and I won't be there, because we have been given a mission by Hokage-sama and Daimyō-sama, himself, so it's up to you and Yoshi-chan to make him feel special. It is his tenth after all." She peered at her daughter, "Do you remember your tenth a couple of months ago, Saku-chan, how he made it special, just for you?"_

 _Sakura's face became dreamy, as she remembered her birthday party, back in July and Yoshiko's a month after that. Naruto never wastes his gifts, always giving something practical, but heart felt. Sakura thumbed the two Raiden sai on her hips, which he gave her, made from the swords, known as Kiba-ken, one of the seven swords of the mist. His mother collected it, then gifted to Naruto, after she vanquished a swordsman, named Raiga. He gave them to Tenten's father to study, then had the blades reforged into Sakura's sai. They retained the lightning enhancing abilities of the Kiba-ken, and are a great asset to Sakura's arsenal, and work well with the Uchiha Interceptor Fist, in which Sakura specialized._ I am one of the few Uchiha, able to use our clan's taijutsu styles, without the Sharingan. Even Itachi could never do that.

 _He did the same for Yoshiko a month later, when he gave her a pair of cho-ken (butterfly swords) that did the same with Yoshi's fire, water, and earth affinities, that the sai did for Sakura's lightning, he named them, Akuma cho-ken (Demon butterfly swords). The cho-ken work quite well with the Senju taijutsu:_ Yūgakatsu zan'nin'na uragiri taijutsu _. On both, and with the aid of his mother, he added a blood and transportation seal, that allows only the owner, to wield it, and call it to them. "Hai, and I have his gift stowed at Yoshi-chan's."_

 _Mikoto smiled, "good," she said, then continuing in earnest, "now on that night, I do not want you coming near the house, for the entire night. On the day before Naruto's birthday, I want you to take everything you're going to need for a weekend stay over to the Senju estate, and make sure your little brother is with you at the party."_

 _Sakura was eying her mother, the tone of voice Uchiha-tono was using was not that of a mother talking to her child. It was the voice of a clan head, giving an order to her subordinate, with the mother's voice there might be some wiggle room, but not with the clan leader. Her mother's power in the clan was equal to her father's, and clan bylaws stated that one cannot over-rule the other. Since the day they could understand, every Uchiha knew the rules of hierarchy within the clan, and clan leader's commands supersede a parent's instructions, even if that parent happened to **be** the clan leader. "H…Hai, Haha-tono."_

 _Mikoto smiled, but her tone remained grave, "Your brothers have been given their own instructions, but I will tell you what I told Sasuke. Sasuke is to be at the Senju estate, at 9 pm; **you** , Yoshiko, and Naruto, are not to be out later than 9 pm. Until further notice from me, or the Hokage, you are not to listen to, or obey, anything my clan coleader, your father tells you to do. Keep this conversation secret, even from your brothers, especially from my clan coleader, your father. Rikai dekimasu ka?!"_

 _Obviously, something big was happening within the clan, probably ninja business, definitely a power struggle, and in clans like the Uchiha, even children of the clan could be used as political cannon fodder. The only thing they could do, is keep their heads down, and try to weather the storm. "No, I do not understand, haha-san, but I will follow your commands, Uchiha-tono."_

* * *

A/N: The attack on the Uchiha happened exactly as the anime depicted, with the obvious exception being that Mikoto and Shisui survived. Sasuke should have followed his mother's orders.

* * *

10 October, 9:30 pm; Kyūbi Fest

Kyūbinokitsune Festival is a day of celebration and remembrance, of the events that happened on this day, exactly ten years ago. Some of the villagers remember it as Yondaime's day, commemorating the day they lost one of the most powerful shinobi, and second most powerful Hokage. For Naruto, this day has always held some bittersweet emotions, it is the day he was born, and the day he lost his father. In the nine years since his birth, his mother has always strived to make each birthday, more memorable than the last. As he strolls down the lane toward the Uchiha estate, his eyes reflecting the ambient light of the stars, and the crescent moon, he found it ironic, that on the most memorable birthday of his life, his mother is away on a mission from the Daimyō. The reason it was so memorable, was tonight he got his first real kiss. They have kissed him before, but tonight they were able to slip away from the adults, found a secluded spot and commenced kissing. Sakura was the first to kiss him, followed immediately by Yoshi-chan.

When he reached the Senju estate, Naruto was resplendent in a formal sunset-orange kimono men's short shirt, a scarlet-red hakama, with an obi of the same shade, adorned of course with a pouch, the same color as his kimono top, for his ninja tools (1). His new kamaha blades, strapped to his left hip, in the traditional daitō, both with the usual blood and transportation seals. They were birthday gifts, replacing the tsurugi blades. The harness and scabbards, being gifts from his mother, before _she left on her mission,_ which can be adjusted to any configuration, and shaped for any blade he may own, durability seals included.

Over it all, a yellow haori, the same shade as his hair, which was kept short (2) as per shinobi regs. Near the top on both sides, about the size of a silver dollar, were a pair of scarlet-red spirals, leading into sunset-orange cyclones curving in the opposite direction to the spiral, that was encircled. Looking very much like a yin-yang symbol, with the origin of the spiral a sunset-orange dot, and the center of the cyclone a scarlet-red dot. It is the combination of the Uzumaki/Namikaze crests. An identical version of the same design, could be found on the back, about the size of a dinner plate. The Uzumaki spiral, about the size of an en-shuriken could be found on Naruto's right side, near the bottom of the haori, the Namikaze cyclone is on his left. On Naruto's feet were a pair of closed, scarlet-red, shinobi sandals.

The Kamaha were a joint gift from Yoshiko, her family, and Sakura. They were twin blades, shaped like a crescent moon, wider than traditional katana, about as wide as the hand of a grown-up. It had a generic tsuba, which Naruto quickly swapped for one showing his combined family crest, a gift from his Mikoto-oba-san, that, and an ovular-shaped, ivory hilt, with slight indentations for his fingers, allowing him a better grip. The Kamaha-ken, like Sakura's Raiden-sai, and Yoshiko's Akuma-cho-ken were designed to be used with Naruto's wind chakra, and yet, the truly unique characteristic of the blade, he mused. The killing edge was on the inside edge, _of course with my wind chakra, every edge is a killing edge. I'll have to begin practicing leaf cutting again, to get the feel of the blades_.

The evening with Sakura, Yoshi, and her family could not have been more fun. After presenting him with their gifts, and making a detour to honor the fallen at the memorial stone, all went out to the fair grounds. "Sakura-chan and Yoshi-chan looked prettier than normal tonight," he murmured, to himself, "so pretty, I could barely talk." In his mind, Naruto flashes back, remembering his two best friends' attire this night. Sakura-chan's kimono was almost formfitting, the same midnight-blue as her normal clothes, only a mixture of cherry and plum blossoms adorned the front and side, and the Uchiha family crest emblazoned upon the back, with silver-lame trim, and a vertically-striped, silver, and crimson obi. Her beautiful, satin black hair, was gathered into a thick black braid, with a heavy-duty crimson ribbon tied in a butterfly fashion. _When she hugged me, I could feel the sai, I got her in sheathes, along her arms,_ he remembered.

Yoshiko was just as beautiful, as always, she wore her long ivory-white-hair up in a loose bun, held up by bo shuriken (4). She wore an earth-tone leopard-print kimono, with an obi the color of her hair. The backside of the kimono showed a curious intermix of her mother and father's clan crests. The Senju crest was the color of her hair as well, and sewn vertically along her spine, where it was superimposed over the Uchiha crest. It reminded Naruto of a tree in autumn, with the sun shining through the bare branches _. I remember,_ _the hilts of her Akuma-cho-ken, sticking out to her sides from the rear._ Their physical appearance, was so breathtaking it shut-down, what few brain cells he had, reducing his eloquence to, "Wow."

All of a sudden, he could hear sounds of conflict, coming from the Uchiha Estate, and at the same moment, the wind shifted, and brought him a metallic scent that he _hoped_ was actual rust. Speeding up into a run, Naruto dashed toward the entrance, but before he got there, leapt on top of the wall. What Naruto saw, he wished until his dying day, that he could forget. Everywhere he looked dead bodies, littered the street; men, women, and children, though thankfully nobody under six years of age could be seen, lay as they fell. Quickly, moving through the hand signs, Naruto quietly said, "Futonjutsu: Kaze no Bunshin (Art of Wind Technique: Avatar of Wind), two wind clones, whirled into existence.

There are a few drawbacks to having such large chakra pools as the Uzumaki. One such drawback common to all Uzumaki, they could not produce the standard Academy clone to save their life. Accordingly, over the years they have developed, alternatives for their unique liability. Elemental clones; using a single hand sign, they produce clones based on their elemental affinity. They require a _little_ more chakra, in conjunction with a little  elemental chakra, to produce. As a alternative for of the standard puff of smoke when they form and dispel, they do so in a way that reflects their element. While not as solid as Kage Bunshin, they are still physical constructs, having the same physical abilities, and able to interact with other physical objects, with all the knowledge of their creator, when dispelled, share whatever information and experiences they gathered, though none of the physical aspects. The creator must still train his or her body to gain the benefits of physical exercise.

Naruto sent one clone to get help, he was not deluding himself, anybody who could kill this many people, never mind that they were some of the strongest shinobi in Konoha, would not break a sweat taking out an academy student a year shy of graduation. Motioning for the other to follow, Naruto using everything he learned from school, and his mother, ghosted silently toward the sounds of fighting. He leapt light and quick from roof to roof, within the estate. Naruto and his clone lit upon a roof, and hearing voices on the other side, lay down. Wiggling, and crawling until they could peer over the apex of the roof, the Narutos looked upon another scene out of a butcher shop. What caught their eyes, and blew their mind, was the identity of the person who seemed to be doing the killing.

Itachi; Uchiha Itachi, was standing not fifty yards away in the middle of the street, perpendicular to their position, was the heir to the clan, that had just been slaughtered. Itachi is a prodigy in the shinobi arts, and praised as the best of his generation. He has consistently scored the highest in every subject, quickly learning any skill taught to him, even teaching himself jonin-level techniques. Graduating from the Ninja Academy, at seven in one year, became a chunin at the age of ten, and joining ANBU at eleven, he was always someone Naruto looked up to, and viewed as a role-model. It was difficult for Naruto to reconcile, his hero with someone who could commit wholesale slaughter, never mind that it was his own clan.

Naruto _firmly_ set that aside, and focused his attention on the figure lying at Itachi's feet. Naruto zeroed in on the person, and saw it was Uchiha Sasuke, Itachi and Sakura's nine-year-old brother. Though they did not get along as well as Sakura and even Itachi, _before tonight,_ Naruto considered Sasuke his friend.

As good as his vision was, Naruto could _not_ determine from this distance, if Sasuke was still breathing, though unless Itachi was talk to himself crazy, Naruto would assumed Sasuke was alive, since Itachi seemed to be talking to him. Naruto had been sent here, by Sakura to get Sasuke, and right now, she had more authority over him, than even Naruto's own mother. He thought of a plan, he touched his clone, and in a frequency that only foxes, cats and dogs could hear, relayed his strategy to his clone.

Naruto knew that standing toe-to-toe with Itachi would only insure a quick death, luckily killing the treacherous bastard, was not a part of his plan. Distracting him, and causing him pain, was. Naruto unseals a thin-shelled ceramic sphere from his blade harness, the radius of a 500 ryo coin (5), then pulling out three en-shuriken (4) he threw the shuriken with all the expert skill he has kept hidden from most of his classmates, a little wind chakra added some extra angular momentum. Itachi of course expertly deflects the thrown shuriken with his still bloody ninjato, which is enough to take his attention off of his little brother. Naruto quickly kawarimis himself with Sasuke, "Hey, Itachi-teme, try to hold your breath," and throws the ball on the ground, which shatters! Naruto II quickly kawarimis himself, with his creator, just as a tiny explosion from the ceramic ball sends a powdery substance shooting into the air. Naruto II dispels in Itachi's direction, sending a gust of wind through the powdery miasma. The powder covers Itachi, and it begins reacting to his skin, where it instantly begins burning, causing the eldest Uchiha child to scream in agony.

"What is this, its burning me up," doing his best to wipe it off, which only succeeds in spreading it and causing the reaction to speed up?

Naruto speaks from on top of his roof with Sasuke thrown over his shoulder, in a fireman's carry, "That's my Hayai aku hokori (Quick lye powder), the one used by you ANBU to dispose of Nuke-nin, fitting really! The ceramic ball, was a delivery system I've been testing to see how effective they would be in the field!" Naruto grinned a humorless grin, "I was actually going to get you to test them, next week, never thought I would end up, testing them _against_ you! You'd best get to water quickly once it gets through the skin the reaction speeds up!"

Naruto's voice becomes thick with anger, and scorn, as Itachi shunshins away, Naruto hears a distant splash, "Don't worry, traitor! _I'll_ take care of your little brother and sister for you," Naruto begins shouting, having no idea he is scorning the savior of the Konohagakure no Sato, "AND MY HAHA-SAN WILL LOOK AFTER YOURS!"

Not wasting anymore time, Naruto begins running for the hospital. He, no longer innocent, of the ugliness of this world, still a child in visage, has begun to put away childish things. His only fear, telling his best friend, that her older brother has murdered her entire clan. "Happy Freakin' Birthday, To Me," he cursed!


	5. For Hokage's Eye Only

Mission to Fire Mountain

Mission Report of Uzumaki-Namikaze Kushina, JCom

Mission Rank: A

Personnel

JCom – Jonin Commander: Uzumaki-Namikaze Kushina

JCap – Jonin Captains: Uchiha Mikoto

Hyuga Hitomi

Chunin: Uzuki Yugao

Inuzuka Hana

Mitarashi Anko

Mission objective: Escort Shrine Maidens to the Mountain Temple of Fire/ Protect Uzumaki-Kasai Shana-ojo

* * *

7 Oct.

7 am: After seeing my son Naruto, off to school I was summoned by the Fifth Hokage.

7:30 am: After changing into work clothes, tiger-stripes on a gray field, black kunai pouch, O-katana strapped to my back, red hair in French-braid along the back, no make-up. I appeared via shunshin in front of the Godaime's office door, and upon knocking, got a come in signal. I entered marching to stand in front of her desk, at attention, "Jonin Commander, Uzumaki-Namikaze Kushina, reporting as ordered!"

"At ease, Jonin Commander," Hokage replied crisply

"You have a mission for me, Tsunade-sama," I asked standing at ease, remaining professional.

Hokage smiled, and answered, "Yes, Kushina, but we should wait for the rest of your assigned team, don't you think?"

"Of course, Hokage-sama."

As we waited, we dropped our professionalism and began chatting like the friends we are, instead of master and subordinate.

8 am: Uchiha Mikoto & Hyūga Hitomi arrived and the briefing got underway. They stopped in front of the Hokage's desk, and addressed the Hokage, "Jonin Captain Uchiha Mikoto/Hyūga Hitomi, reporting as ordered, Hokage-sama!"

"At ease, Kunoichi," the Hokage ordered crisply. She pulled out a scroll held closed by a strip marked with an 'A' symbol. "This is a special escort mission, personally requested by the Fire Lord, himself. Because of the origin of the request, this mission has been given a higher rating than a normal mission of this type." She looked at us and I noticed her looking sharply at Mikoto, who nodded, understanding a deeper meaning than what was being explained. Mikoto's face became a mask of calm, only those who knew her as well as, Hitomi and I could tell, she was already in mission mode. I put my suspicions aside and listened as our military leader, outlined the mission.

At the age of twelve, the noble houses or clans of Hi no Kuni (Fire Nation), were required to send their heirs and heiresses to the capital, and from there separated by gender, shepherded to two different Hi no Tera, a valley monastery for boys, and a mountain shrine for girls. Our mission was to escort the noble young ladies from Honō no Machi (Flame), the Fire Nation capital, to Kasai Yamadera, where they will be trained as Miko (shrine maidens). Normally, a mission of this type would be delegated to chunin as a B-ranked mission, yet Hi no Ryōshu (Lord of Fire), specifically requested Jonin, to accompany the convoy this time, automatically bumping it up to an A-ranked mission. He even detailed which specific kunoichi, to send on the mission.

At first, I could not understand his reasoning, Minato and I were personal friends of the Daimyo and his wife Lina, who just happened to be a full-blooded Uzumaki, the same as me. Then I realized the age of his daughter, Shana, two years, four months, and three days older than _my_ son. Once a year, Naruto and I would go visit her and have an Uzumaki reunion of sorts. She had the temper of an Uzumaki and was equal to Naruto in kenjutsu and taijutsu skill, but better than him in fuinjutsu, chi manipulation, and my god-daughter. Shana was like an elder sister to Naruto.

I turned my attention back to my Hokage, listening as she continued, "You will need to leave by the ninth, to begin your journey on the tenth. Barring unforeseen conditions, you should reach Kasai Yamadera, by the twelfth, and be back here before noon on the thirteenth. You may choose any additional personnel that you deem necessary, as long as they are kunoichi, men are not allowed on the journey. Any questions," she asked not expecting any?

9 Oct.

10 am: I spent the last couple of days making it up to Naruto, knowing I would not be there for my son's birthday, made me feel so guilty. He never let it show, understanding some of the realities of ninja life, but I could tell he was unhappy, I would not be there to celebrate his first decade of life. He was really understanding, and it made me proud of the way he handled his disappointment. Naruto saw me off at the gate and told me to give his onēsan (big sister) a hug and a kiss from him. He had this great big smile on his face, as he acted so grown-up, it almost made me cry.

Speaking of masking her feelings, _my_ onēchan had been acting, _unusual_ since we received our mission. The most unusual event happened, while we were standing at the gates. Her eldest son Itachi, turned up unexpectedly, and hugged her tightly, as if it were the last time he would see her for awhile. Mikoto returned the hug just as fiercely, _this_ was the second time since getting to the Hokage's office, that she seemed to be in conflict over something. If anybody else were there, they probably would not have noticed, but Mikoto, Hitomi, and I were on the same genin team together. I looked at Tomi-chan and could tell she was as troubled as me, by our sister from another mister's demeanor, sharing a look we shook our heads minutely. We would let Mikoto-chan, tell us in her own due time.

Looking back, I noticed the other three, we chose as back-up for this mission. They were women from our genin teams, Yugao, Anko, and Hana.

Uzuki Yugao was on my genin team, I taught her as much of the sword as I could, without violating clan rules, concerning non-clan members. She was taking a leave of absence from ANBU, to care for her sick boyfriend, who despite Lady Tsunade's best efforts could not shake off his lung disease.

Mitarashi Anko, originally Orochimaru of the Sen'nin's apprentice before he betrayed her and the Village, leaving her with a curse mark on her shoulder. Kushina with the help of Jiraiya was able to remove it in such a way, that when the piece of his soul that was in the Mark, finally went back to him there was a little gift attached, _we took away that which makes him a man,_ Kushina thought with satisfaction. Now, she's Mikoto's student, and they could not be more opposite. Where Miko-chan was well-mannered, cultured and refined, Anko was crude, crass, and earthy, and they could not care for each other more.

Inuzuka Hana and her companions, the Haimaru brothers, clan heir to the Inuzuka clan, was like the daughter Kushina never had. She was Hitomi's student. When Naruto was little, the Inuzuka helped him learn to use his senses, since the unique characteristic, gave the Inuzuka senses comparable to the canine partners. They helped him learn to manage the sensory input and discovered an unexpected gift, of which the Hokage is already aware. Uzumaki/Inuzuka clan secret.

5 pm: We made good time to the capital, and were shown into the daimyo. The Fire Lord, was not what one would expect, the absolute ruler of one of Five Great Nations, to be like. He was blonde with long-hair and blue-eyes, with a jovial carefree look on his face, his eyes as sharp as a hawk's, his mind even sharper, they were eyes that never missed a thing, and remembered everything he witnessed. He was dressed in his robes, covering orange mercenary armor, and sitting upon a raised platform, rested the hononotsurugi (Sword of Flame).

Behind, and to the right of him, sat two females of differing ages, both had red hair like mine, but the older one had green-eyes, which could see right through you; the younger had eyes just like her daddy's, and according to him a mind even sharper than his own, with a better memory. Lina, the woman, _appeared_ to be unarmed, but only a fool would attempt to hurt her, Uzumaki are never unarmed. Shana, the young lady, tall for a twelve-year old, pre-teen, was more obviously armed, with a nodachi as tall as her five foot, two inch, lean, muscular frame. "Kasai no Omo-sama, (Fire Lord) we have come at your request, to escort young ladies to become true women of society," I said while I knelt, and prostrated to the floor.

"Rise kunoichi of the Leaf, and welcome to my home," the daimyo ordered, then looked over his shoulder, to his wife, "is that enough formality, Ore no Kokoro no honō (Flame of My Heart)?"

Kasai-Uzumaki Lina, grinned wide, "I think that will do for now, dear. There will be more than enough of it tomorrow, to last us a few days." Lina turned to her fellow Uzumaki, "I apologize for pulling you away from Naruto on his tenth, but there is nobody, I would trust more than you, Kushina, to see to the safety of my most precious jewel," she said, placing her hand lovingly upon the back of Shana's head, and caressed it.

Shana blushed at her mother's protective statement, "Haha-chan, quit embarrassing me in front of Kushina-oba-san," she said, in teenage embarrassment, "will you, please introduce us to your companions?"

I did as she asked, when I got to Mikoto all three of them, seemed to give her a look of sympathy, and admiration. After that, we ate dinner with the daimyo, his family, and the twelve guardians. Which was a reunion since Mikoto and Hiro's cousin, Shisui had been sent to take Sarutobi Asuma-san's place last week.

10 Oct. Happy Birthday, Naruto-kun

9 am: Before getting underway, I addressed my charges, pacing in front of them, and decided to give instructions. "Shrine Maidens, as of this moment you're rank in society is meaningless, I want you to place yourselves in line from shortest to tallest!" I waited for shōrai no Miko to move into their positions as ordered. I inspected them and continued to give instructions, Shana was somewhat in the middle of the pack. Once the Miko had deployed to my satisfaction, I continued my instructions, while moving to the short end, "Starting from my end," they did as instructed, "every second person take one step forward, and turn toward me!" I continued with my instructions until they were deployed in a two by two formation.

After a simple ceremony, where the parents of the children, charged them with growing into strong adults, full of the Will of Fire, many tearful mothers, and prideful fathers waved to their children, and the prospective shrine maidens and temple monks, left for their destination. It was a quiet group, that marched through the Fire Nation, toward the mountain range in the north-eastern part of the Fire Nation. The young ladies would return home on national holidays, but the first journey had to be completed without their parents present.

Then, I issued instructions to my ninja. "Alright," I said in a normal voice, "kunoichi get to these positions as I assign them to you. Inuzuka-san, you and the triplets take the lead, any other position would just clog your noses, deploy the triplets as you see fit, Hana. Hyūga-san, you're in the rear, be sure to keep any stragglers from falling too far behind. Uchiha-san, Mitarashi-san, you two are on the left flank, make sure we don't have any strays, keep a weather-eye out for _wolves_. Uzuki-san, you're with me on the right."

1 pm: It was in the afternoon, that Hitomi sent up a shrill whistle, and the triplets sent up a howl, signaling an imminent attack, the Miko looked back wondering what was happening. They didn't have long to wait, on either side came a group of thirty bandits, both genders, fifteen to each side came pouring out of the forest. Wasting no time, I made hand signs, and shouted, "Futonjutsu: Kaze no Dantō (Art of the Wind Technique: Wind Decapitation)" and whirled, counter clockwise, drawing my blade in the motion, and sent a wave of wind straight through the group of bandits directly in front of me. The attack cut through them like wheat. Ignoring armor, the jutsu went through their bodies, slashing through their hearts. My attack took out seven bandits at once, leaving eight for me and Yugao to deal with. It was little more than a sparring session, than an actual fight, we decimated their ranks. I was just cutting down the last of my five, as Yugao finished off her three. I was slightly disappointed in the caliber of my opponents, I was barely breathing hard.

One should not tempt Fate, even in the silence of one's own heart, to make-up for giving me such low-quality assailants, destiny decided to give me a worthy opponent. Suddenly paying attention, I felt a large chakra signature coming from the forest ahead of me. Closing my eyes, I sent my awareness into the forest to assess, my opponent, I quirked my eyebrows, _much better at least, high jonin level,_ I thought to myself.

Out of the forest, walked a tall, young woman with a slender frame yet remarkably, well-endowed breasts. She had long waist-length raven hair, tied back in a high ponytail, peach skin, and light purple eyes. She wore a purple choker around her neck that contained numerous small pins. She was dressed in a small pink kimono; underneath and along her legs, she wore chain mail and a black strap under her breast to keep the chain mail in place. Her most eye-catching features were her eyebrows which resemble lightning bolts, which went well with the forehead protector, with the cloud scratched over, proclaiming her a nuke-nin from Kumogakure. She was carrying a tsuba-less nodachi strapped to her back with a makeshift grip of bandages wrapped around the hilt.

"Red hair, curvy figure, immensely powerful, you must be, Uzumaki Kushina," the woman said, neutrally, "also known as, Akai Shi. It is, an honor, to face, you."

Taking on a scolding, motherly tone, "It is polite to introduce yourself first, young lady," I said.

Not altering her tone at all, the other woman replied, "Forgive me, my name is, Fukui Mika. I must, ask you, to handover, the heiress, to the, Fire Nation, please."

I grunted, _oh so, she's one of those_ , _those people who have no passion for anything, keeping their emotions bottled up tight, until they snap one day, and take out a whole village._ "I am sorry, but I am afraid I cannot do that, you see she is as precious to me as my _own_ son. I would sooner die, then hand her over."

Her face lit up with glee, finally, some emotion crossed her face, when she smirked, "As you wish, Uzumaki-san." She giggled like a schoolgirl getting a gift, "I'll be sure to mail your head back to your son when I cut it off after I'm done PISSING on it." _Bipolar much?_

"Yugao," I shouted while falling into my stance, "stay back with the young ladies, and tell the others to stay alert," I ordered!

"Hai, sensei," she replied.

Hoping to keep the fight away from my charges, I shot forward slicing at her midriff, she juked left, my blade sang through the air. She back-stepped a few more feet left, and smirked, as she felt her chain-mail take the brunt of the force. I went right after her to keep her on the defensive, she was slower than me, _those **udders** must be weighing her down_. She was skilled, there was no denying that her slashes were powerful, yet precise. I even had to use 80% of my skill to fight her, giving me the fight I wanted. Finally, we stood panting, I was starting to sweat _a little_ , "This was the fight, I've dreamed of since I left Kumo, looking for better opponents, other than my wimp-ass student," she said.

I quirked my eyes, "really, with Kirabi there, you couldn't find good opponents? Did you really want good opponents, or opponents skilled enough to test you, but not kill you?" I shook my head at the arrogance of this kunoichi, "Kirabi, could give _me_ a good fight, even if I used **100%** of my skill and power."

Mika gave me a puzzled looked, "Wait a minute, you've been toying with me," she sounded shocked?

"I wanted a good fight," I said while nodding at her question, "after the _warm-up_ your bandit gang gave me, Mika-san. I was really disappointed, but you have proved to be a better opponent," I said with an evil grin, "but I could tell, if I went all out on you, the fight would have ended," I said, with a sulky pout, "much too soon for my liking."

Fukui san's eyes were filled with anger, and KI, "I don't need you, showing me any mercy, bitch," she screeched, "give me everything you got."

"Really," I said, in an excited 'little girl receiving a pony for her birthday,' voice, "Do you really mean that," I gushed? Mika gave a gruff nod, "As you wish," I said, in a relieved voice. She got in her stance, I got into mine, then bolted forward, leaving a crater where I was standing, my blade broke the sound barrier, and she got a wide unbelieving look in her eyes. I don't know why, she asked for me to go all out, and choices have consequences after all, _even my ten-year-old son, understands that,_ she tried to bring her blade up fast enough to block, but by the time she could my blade was there. Her chainmail may as well have not been there, links were flying everywhere, I moved behind and hamstrung her. Mika screamed in great pain, then showing mercy on her, I removed her pretty head at her shoulders.

My face was solemn, I never liked killing, but as a ninja, it's something we all must accept, or get out of the life. I swung my blade out wide, flinging Mika-san's blood from the blade in an all too familiar maneuver, the same motion brought my blade around and into the sheath on my back. I turned and walked down to my charges, my battle was in full view of them, and Shana's mouth hung open until she collected herself, and said, "Naruto and I, have a _long_ way to go before we're anywhere near what I just saw."

I grinned, "you're both getting there, Shana-chan," then looked over to the other side, as Mikoto came up, I noticed a lot of ash on her side, a sure sign she was using judicious amounts of fire jutsu. "Any problems on your side, Mikoto-chan."

"No, you're the only one to get a good opponent," she replied, in a slightly offended tone, "didn't even have to deploy the Sharingan."

I laughed at her tone, slightly relieved, that she was acting more like her old self, from when we were genin, and would compete to see who did better in battle. Whatever was plaguing her this whole mission, didn't seem to be affecting her as much, right now. "Alright, I said let's get to identifying these bandits, maybe there's price on some of them, we can collect it once we turn their heads into the Village mission office," the other kunoichi nodded, but only a handful were worth anything, excluding Mika, after a six-way split, somewhere around ®100,000 each. Mika by herself had had a ®2,000,000 bounty which when split evenly would net each of us over ®300,000 per ninja, and I took her blade as a trophy. Yugao sealed the heads of the bandits into one scroll, I sealed Mika's head in another, and her blade into still another scroll. Then dumping some of my son's lye solution onto the bodies, we moved on and set up camp.

9:45 pm: I was sleeping soundly when I suddenly felt like Naruto _needed_ me, I bolted upright from my sleeping bag, looking around, I noticed Mikoto, was missing from her bag as well.

Getting up, I left the tent, careful not to wake Hitomi-chan. Outside, the shrine maidens' tents were arrayed in two neat rows of five. These were no shrinking violets, self-reliance was an important part of the Will of Fire, and every young lady was required to bring a two-person tent.

I came upon, Mikoto staring off in the general direction of home, I made enough noise for her to hear me coming. Trying to sneak up on a friend, was an insult in the ninja world. I came abreast of her and looked in the same direction, thinking of my son, though I could not put a finger on it, I could feel him in danger. Suddenly, we heard two distinct sets of footsteps coming up behind us. Hitomi came to my side, and Shana came up to Mikoto and touched her hand.

Mikoto looked at her questioningly, but saw the **command** from the Hi no ōjo, (Princess of Fire,) in her eyes, and bowing her head, began informing us of the subject of the conversation that took place in the Hokage's office exactly two weeks prior to our mission. The subject is not relevant to my mission, and therefore shall not be included in this report.

11 Oct: Today was uneventful, nothing happened that was worthy of note in this report.

12 Oct

11 am: We arrived at Kasai Yamadera, and were greeted by the director of the temple, Tamiko-abi. The biggest surprise however, was on Hitomi-chan. Tamiko had the facial features of a Hyūga, the hair, the skin, _the eyes_. They just stood staring at each other, both in astonishment, yet while Hitomi's face was curious, the high priestess' face was resentful. While, I had never seen her before, for some reason, she reminded me of Minato and a little of Naruto. I shook my head, _I must still be thinking of the tenth, I must be feeling guilty, it was Naruto's birthday, and Minato's day of death, after all._

Coming to her senses the old woman, turned to the newest crop of young ladies and began to welcome them to the temple, telling them what they could expect, and what was expected of them. She started to move off, when the Lady of the Hyūga, her curiosity overwhelming her good manners, stepped forward to question the abbess, before she could get out a sound however, the abbess cut her off harshly. "If you wish to know how I came to be here _Hyūga,_ " the abbess almost snarled, "give me a few hours to do my duty, and I will tell you, how I came to be here," Hitomi nodded mutely!

6 pm: Hitomi came to see me in the chambers I had been assigned for the night. I was anxious to get home and check on my son. The feeling he needed me, while it had abated, somewhat after the night of the tenth, was still there, like a dull ache in my heart. Standing beside Hitomi stood the abbess of the temple.

True to her word, after seeing to the temple's new tenants, Tamiko-abi had sought out the Lady of the Hyūga. I smiled greeting one of my best friends, but she had a determined, yet pensive expression on her face. The high priestess' expression was also pensive, yet hopeful at the same time. "Kushina-chan, I have someone for you to meet." She turned indicating the suddenly frail-looking, old woman, "I would like you to meet, Hyūga Tamiko-hime, a former member of the main branch of the Hyūga clan," I was about to greet her as such, but Hitomi was not finished, "widow of Senju Nawaki, mother of Namikaze Minato."

Faster than even I thought possible, I had a kunai pressed to the old bitch's throat, before I realized what I was doing. "This is the bitch," I hissed, voice full of acid? "Minato-kun, went to his death wondering, why his mother and father gave him up, it was his one true vulnerability, and now I come to find out she has been living on a _mountain_ somewhere, venting her spleen, having _religious_ experiences?!"

Hitomi began talking fast, but calmly, "Kushi-chan, she had no choice, it was either that, or subject Minato and herself, to a fate worse than death."

Hitomi's words, and the look in the old woman's eyes, as I held the kunai to her throat, finally got through to me. It was a look that said, _I totally deserve anything you could do to me and more._ I retracted the kunai, and in a terse command, said to the old woman, "Talk and make it good!"

"We were fifteen," Tamiko began, "both of us had been secretly married for two years. We were very much in love, and on the night of his birthday, I was finally able to give him a proper wedding night. It was the greatest night of my life. Unfortunately, when my father found out, he was less than pleased, at the time the Hyūga and Senju were in a sort-of clan cold war. When Minato was born, my father gave me a choice, I could give up Minato and be banished from the clan, or have the Caged Bird Seal placed on _both_ of us."

I just stood there and listened, as the old woman talked, when she finished I just had one question, "Is the Caged Bird Seal really _that_ bad?" I was skeptical until Hitomi explained it to me.

"Caged Bird Curse Seal is branded on all branch house members of the Hyūga clan, by members of the main house," Hitomi explained. "The main purpose is to seal the Byakugan upon death, so its secrets may never fall into the hands of the enemy. A secondary purpose, is to control members of the branch house, since it can be activated at will, by a main house member with a hand seal, only known to them, it can destroy the wearer's brain cells, in the most painful way possible. Hiashi _hates_ it, it was the reason he lost his brother, and Neji his father, and actively discourages its use. Since he became head of the clan, he has attempted to have it abolished, but some old-stalwarts have blocked all of his attempts."

My heart softened as I listened, then I looked at my mother in-law, "I would like, for you to meet your grandson. When do you think you can take a vacation, and visit Konoha?"

Her eyes clouded with unshed tears, "I would love to come for a visit, I could see myself making a pilgrimage there, on the next national or religious holiday, but not as a Hyūga."

"Well, then," I said, "we'll have to introduce you as a Namikaze, when you visit?"

13 Oct.

12 pm: We left for Konoha at five the next morning, we were not hampered by the shōrai no miko, and made good time getting back home, I was anxious to see my son, and tell him I found a grandma for him. But mostly, I wanted to get back to check on him, the feeling I got the night of his birthday, was mostly gone, but until I could see him with my own two eyes, and hug him with my own two arms, I would continue to worry.

* * *

Conclusion: I have just finished my oral report, for the Hokage, she gave me praise for my formation during the march, chewed me out for playing with Fukui Mika, saying that she might have gotten lucky and hurt and killed me, to add emphasis she reminded me that I had a son depending upon me to return. Hokage was livid when I told her about the Hyūga treatment of a Senju, after I told her about Tamiko-giri no haha (mother-in-law). I asked her to keep in mind that now, Naruto is related to her by blood, she actually laughed. We decided to keep, Naruto's blood connection to the Hyūga a secret for now, especially from Naruto. We will say that we found his father's mother, but wait until he's chunin, or develops the Dojutsu from the clan. Therefore, this report will be labelled For Hokage's Eye Only.


	6. Fallout

11 Oct at the Hospital, midnight:

Naruto was staring unseeingly at the décor of the hospital's waiting area, the only word that seemed to come to mind when he thought about it, was brown. Brown pleather seats, brown wooden tables, brown plant boxes, brown carpet, the only break in the color pattern, were the plants which were refreshingly green. Naruto went over the events of the entire night, his birthday party, going to the festival, keeping company with his two best friends, maybe _more_ now that they kissed him. It helped to remember the whole evening in order, before getting to the bad part, _when we got back to the Senju estate at fifteen till nine_ , Sakura's little brother was not there yet. They waited until 9:15, thirty minutes, was more than enough time to get _anywhere_ in the village. Hiro-ojisan and Hiroko-obasan, had gone to bed already. Sakura was starting to get worried, she wanted to go home, and check on him, but told him about the orders her mother gave her as clan head. Even Naruto knew the difference between mom instructions, and clan leader orders, _the Uzumaki might only be a clan of two, but we're still a clan, with our own rules._ Sakura started to tear up, and Yoshi-onēchan tried comforting her. Sakura thinking something happened to her little brother, even though Sasuke was considered the best in his class, any reassurances made by Naruto, and Yoshiko, fell on deaf ears.

 _So, I suggested that I go check her clan estate, and bring her brother to the Senju. They protested that it could be dangerous, and I could get hurt, I knew the risks but waved them away. "I'll be careful, Sakura-chan, Yoshiko-chan, but it's all I can do to help make Sakura feel better," I said with a cheeky grin. "Sasuke probably got caught up at your clan's training grounds, he'll probably wanna spar some too." Sakura must have been really worried about her brother, because after looking at her cousin, and getting the nod, agreed to let me go._

 _Sakura walked over to me, and grabbed my nice clothes by the lapels, and pulled me until she was nose-to-nose with me. " **You** be careful," she said in a dangerous voice, "Yoshiko and I kissed you tonight, and **I** at least want to do more of it in the future, _ with you _." She kissed me on the nose, I nodded stupidly at her._

 _Then Yoshiko was standing right next to me, and said, "Do not take stupid chances, promise us you'll go get help before trying to be a hero," she demanded, she wouldn't let me go until I promised, which I did, and since I sent my avatar for help, fulfilled my promise._

 _The confrontation at the Uchiha estate_ happened _, looking at the clock, while blinking my eyes two and a half hours ago. I turned back to looking straight ahead, and remembered the events that happened after I fled the scene. My avatar made his way to Hokage Tower, rousing the ANBU, Naruto III briefed them on what I witnessed, they informed the Hokage who immediately dispatched them, but ordered_ him _to give her more detail. When my other avatar dispersed, Naruto III received Naruto II's memories the same as me, and updated the Hokage, what he received about the confrontation, as I left with Sasuke._

 _By that time, I met up with the ANBU team, sent to investigate my avatar's call for help. It was a standard six ninja team; one ninja with a dog mask, and gravity defying silver hair, checked Sasuke, finding only superficial wounds, except for a huge welt on his head, and made me head for the hospital. I made an avatar and dispersed him to keep the Hokage up to date with new information. I reached the hospital, turning Sasuke over to the health professionals, who insisted on checking me out for injuries, as well. I sealed away my blades and haori. I made two more avatars, dispersed one to update the Hokage, and sent the other to inform Sakura, and the Senju estate. Finally,_ thirty minutes ago, _my clone in the Hokage's office dispersed, the Hokage thanked me for my service to the village, and all that stuff._

Naruto's mind and awareness returned to the present, he took a big whiff of the air, and said out loud, "Man, who chose the furniture for this place?"

" _I_ did, brat," a woman's voice replied, "earth tones are supposed to be soothing, Naruto-kun."

Naruto looked over at Tsunade, as she walked up and sat down next to him. Over the years, Tsunade and Naruto have developed a unique relationship, when she was not in the robes of the Hokage like now, they talked rather freely with each other, "O bāchan, if soothing means dull, you've achieved your goal." She was the Hokage, a mother, and grandmother, but with Naruto, she was his O bāchan, when not in her Hokage robes, right now she did not even have her ANBU bodyguards, not in the room at least.

Tsunade crosses her arms over her stupendous breasts, turning away in a huff, "You wouldn't know good decorations if they came up, and bit you in the crotch, little turd."

Naruto growled, "old fart!"

She glared and shot back, "whisker face," she got in his face!

He got in her face too, and answered right back, "ancient witch!"

They got closer to each other with each dig, they even had each other by the lapels of their clothing. She held him by his kimono shirt, and was right in his face, he was holding her top by the lapels. It was at this moment the dam burst on his emotions, he was shaking trying to hold back his feelings, she quickly enfolded him in a hug. Finally, allowing himself to cry, he buried his head in her shoulder, and silently wept. He had done his duty like a grown up, now it was time to let him act like the ten-year-old, he is. He spoke quietly to her, told what he saw, what he _smelt_ , how he felt about his role model after knowing what Itachi did. Tsunade just listened as he spoke, rubbing his back soothingly. Both knew, this would not be the last time he saw death, he would probably even deal it out from time to time, but for right now it was okay to let him, be a little boy.

After his crying storm was over, he felt a little better, and stood back. "Thank you, Sobo-san, I didn't realize I needed that."

Tsunade smiled, "Your welcome, mago-kun, anytime you need it, let me or your haha know. It's never good to keep your feelings bottled up, you should always find some way to express them."

Naruto nodded then stood at attention, "Does the Hokage need anything else," he asked his bearing crisp?

She shook her head, "No, your clone signed a written statement, which is good enough for now, the Clan Council may have questions, but they can wait until your mother returns. Because, you're a minor until your graduation, she will need to act as your advocate." Tsunade stood and hugged him again, "Now, are you ready, to receive some guests, Naruto-kun?"

"Does Sakura know about her clan, and brothers," he asked?

"Yes," she nodded, "Sasuke woke up an hour ago, Itachi only knocked him out," then smiled, "right now she and Yosh-magomusume are more worried about you, than the clan?"

Naruto laughed at that, "I can tell from here they're anxious, their heart beat is rapid."

Tsunade squinted at Naruto, "You can hear a person's heart beat from fifty feet away?"

Naruto nodded, "Everybody's heart beat differs, depending on health, and lifestyle, I can identify people based on heartbeat, pulse rate, blood flow, even blood pressure. I can also feel them by the way they displace air molecules." Naruto indicated his whisker marks and ears, that seemed to twitch in response to some invisible wind or other stimuli.

Tsunade looked impressed with what he was telling her, but asked, "How do you handle such intense input?"

Naruto smiled, "It helps that I've had them all my life, but what really helped me learn to use my senses, was the way Inuzuka Tsume-dono and her partner Kuromaru helped me when I was younger, before I started at the academy. They taught me to stop fighting my senses, and accept what they told me, to let my mind do the work of understanding." He finished his explanation, by adding, "Besides, you have the same senses I do, mine are just more acute than yours," Tsunade started to shake her head, when he continued, "let me put it another way, though you see, you do not need to look, hear, but not listen, touch, but not feel. Your senses are always active, but you don't have to pay attention," a look of understanding crossed her face, and she called in the others.

Yoshi and Sakura raced over to hug Naruto, tightly. Hiroko gave him an encouraging smile, Hiro clapped him on the back. Jiraiya-jiji acted like nothing big happened at all. They stayed for a little while longer, before Tsunade sent them all home.

* * *

Kushina and Mikoto came in a day and a half later, and after turning their reports in to the Hokage, made a bee-line to the Senju estate to be with their children. Kushina crushed Naruto to her, out of relief and concern, but Naruto hugged her just as tightly, drawing strength from her, while she was doing the same. Mikoto kept switching back and forth between her two kids, and when she heard Naruto saved her son and how he did it, she hugged him just as tightly. "Thank you, for saving my baby, Naruto-kun. The Uchiha, or what's left of us are in your debt."

Sasuke was good-natured about the whole thing, "Honestly, the only thing Itachi hurt on me was my pride, even if he is jonin I shouldn't have been knocked out so quickly. Naruto was at least able to wound him."

Mikoto counseled him on that thought, "Sasuke-kun, Naruto was lucky, and took your brother by surprise. If Itachi had been ready for Naruto, Kushina would be burying her only son right now." Sasuke looked at his mother and nodded.

* * *

Later that night at the Uzumaki-Namikaze estate...

 _All he could see were their faces. The eyes kept looking at him, following him waiting for him to save them. The worst part was he could smell them. The smell of the fear as they were cut down, only a few hours old by the time he had arrived. His animal senses combined with his human imagination gave his subconscious vibrant dreams._

 _Animals don't really 'smell' fear or aggression. They smell the body's transition into fight or flight mode, the increase of the blood sugar, release of cortisol and adrenaline into the blood, and the release of fatty acids to promote energy release. It is why animals attack, when you're afraid of them, to them aggression and fear, smell the same. When animals die violent deaths, the fight or flight chemicals linger for a time. and the human animal is no different. The people killed at the Uchiha estate, died either in fear or while fighting, and Naruto unconsciously through simple respiration, inhaled all of that. All their fear, and all their pain before they died._

Naruto tossed and turned trying to get away from the memory, not just of what he saw, but what he smelt. "AAAH!"

Kushina was in his room before the sound finished travelling. "Naruto-kun, Naruto-kun," she shouted coming to his bedside, "musuko, wake up, wake up!"

Naruto opened his eyes, saw his okasan sitting next to him, he launched himself into her arms, clutching at her. He was breathing rapidly, practically hyperventilating, "The smell, the smell, make it go away, please make it go away," he begged, practically screaming!

His mother rubbed his back and hugged him to her chest, rocking him back and forth, like when he was an infant. "Shshsh, it'll be alright, my baby, shhh, its okay, its okay, okasan is here, I'm here. You're safe now, because mommy loves you." His breathing was beginning to calm down, he realize where he was, and hugged his mom even tighter.

Eventually, he calmed down, his breathing returned to normal. Naruto leaned away from his mother, "I'm sorry, okasan, I am feeling better, sorry I woke you up."

Kushina shook her head, "Nonsense," she said stroking his back some more, "I'm always here for you, Naruto-kun."

Naruto covered his eyes with his hands, "I can still remember the odor of the bodies, they had just been killed, and still smelled like they were in panic mode." He looked up at her intently, "There were worse smells, just as powerful," he shuddered, and smiles faintly,"I won't say exactly what they were, but I will say sphincter and bowel."

Kushina wrinkled her nose in disgust, but nodded in understanding, having been the cause of some deaths herself, she has seen that particular circumstance occur occasionally. Then, she looked at her son, studying him, and came to a conclusion, "Naruto, I believe it's time for your first blade evolution ritual."

Naruto looked surprised, "I... thought that was only used when you make your first kill."

Shaking her head, Kushina replied, "no, it was to be used upon seeing death for the first time." She went on, "as you know, our blades are more than instruments for doling out death, they become a testimony to how we live our lives, a diary of sorts. Every time we receive a new blade, whether as a gift or we take it off our enemies upon defeat, we may if we choose, perform the blade evolution ritual."

Naruto nods, as he remembers the lessons in clan customs his mother taught him. Using a crucible that reacts only to chi, the blades merge, the atoms get redistributed into new patterns. The blades forged together, record the experiences of the rite caster, from the last ritual until the current, in thought wave patterns unique to each caster, which is how the atoms of the blades are redistributed. Any special properties if not redundant, are harmonized within the forging.

Kushina takes Naruto's hand, "Come, musuko-san, let's get to the dojo," she pulls him behind her. They stop by the front door to retrieve their current blades. They enter the dojo, a huge space where Kushina trains her son. Directly ahead of them is the Uzumaki spiral, to the right a shrine dedicated to Namikaze Minato. They bow to the spiral representing Uzushiogahkure, they give their loyalty to Konoha at the moment, but in their hearts, all Uzumaki belong to Uzu. They knelt and prayed at Minato's alter.

They separated walking over to separate wall panels. Kushina picked up Mika's O-katana, and walked to the center, knelt in seiza and waited. Naruto returned with the twin wakizashi, knelt as well, then unsealed the twin tsurugi, from his right arm. Tonight was the first night, he had been home since his birthday. He looked up and watched as his mother removed the bandage hilt, from Mika's blade, then using a set of Allen wrenches removed the foot long hilt and tsuba on her own weapon. On the floor in front of them, was the seal (此路不通) for The Way is Shut. Channeling chi and chakra into the seal it changed to (路是開放的) meaning The Way is Now Open. A panel slid open, revealing a rectangular coffin-like structure, made entirely of clay, the Crucible of Evolution.

Naruto's mother placed the two O-katana, into a couple of notches, of which there were several, and closed the lid. "Now, just watch, Naruto-san," she said in her clan leader voice. He nodded. She closed her eyes and Naruto felt her chi reach out, entering the crucible. He suddenly felt it get really warm, the heat radiating from the crucible was not unpleasant, it felt more like the sun blessing the face on a beautiful summer day. The heat went on for just a few minutes, then it began to ebb, it cut off completely, and the lid opened again.

Inside, where there was once two blades, now lay only one. It had retained the overall shape and length of the two blades, but the dimensions elsewhere were doubled. The thickness and width of both blades was added together, and it was now made of blued steel. Kushina lifted them out of the crucible, reattaching the handle and tsuba, which changed shape to keep the blade perfectly balanced. She inspected the blade critically, and grunted in approval, "I'm going to have to re-practice my iaijutsu and battojutsu, to get the hang of this blade. You will be Yoruimōto."

Kushina placed Yoruimōto into its sheathe, which also changed to fit the enormous blade. Then she added a clay wall, to prevent Naruto's blades from forging together. "Remove the accessories, and place the three blades in whatever group you wish to forge together, keep in mind this is not an art project, they must perform the function of defending your life."

Naruto followed his clan leaders orders as she gave them, he places his new kamaha in the outboard slots, his twin wakizashi on the inboard slots, and the twin tsurugi between them. "Begin channeling your chi outward, from 'Zìwǒ dìfāng' the creative chi node," she waited for him to comply, "good, now guide it into the crucible, _it'll_ do the rest, which will allow it to go through your life, even things you do not consciously remember." The crucible was doing exactly as she said it would, Naruto remembered the night of his birth, what was said in his presence as a new born, he did not notice. Everything from his life, was brought to his conscious mind, and with his enhanced senses, it was brought to him with a vibrancy and clarity, only he could understand.

Finally, came the memory of the Uchiha Massacre, not just his memories, but every thought, and feeling, before, during, and after that tragedy. The crucible did not erase any of these memories, because it was not just the blades that were reforged into something new, Naruto felt himself being reforged from all the experiences, thus far in his young life. What seemed like hours, but was in reality only a few minutes, the crucible was finished. It slid open and where before, there were six blades, now only two were in their place. He picked them up one at a time, attaching the tsuba given by his aunt Mikoto, and a hilt which twisted to follow the shape of the blade, and adding a foot in length, totaling four feet long from pommel to tip, a foot and an inch, shorter than Naruto was tall, at that age.

The blades were three-foot long, serpentine, sine-curved, multi-edged blades, as wide as his hand. Weighted for hacking, and tapered enough for stabbing, there were three-foot slicing edges on one side that was a gentle-curve, the last twelve-inches led to a serrated section, with four serrations in a shallow-pattern. The second-edges followed the first curves, but were unbroken to the tsuba, meant for decapitation. The most striking feature was not the shape, but the hue. The blade looked like a rainbow exploded all over it, from different angles light reflected a multitude of colors into the eyes. "They're beautiful, musuko-kun," Kushina broke in, staring in awe, "your blades are no longer just hunks of metal, they are now, a part of you, they will be extensions of your will, therefore as I have done you must give them a name."

He thought for a moment, then grinned gently, "Kaminokaze, their name is Kaminokaze."

* * *

One month later…

Tanzaku Town resides in the Land of Fire and is a fair distance from Konoha. It is a lively town that attracts many adults, due to its gambling opportunities, and beautifully, loose women. Through the streets four goddesses, sauntered out in exotic clothing, striding provocatively, even a tiny-bit invitingly. They wandered from booth to booth, flaunting their bountiful bodies to the eyes, but not the _hands_ of the passing male populace. As a few found out, when their hands were returned to them with broken bones,

The tallest of them, was also the most endowed, has brown eyes and straight, shoulder-length, blonde hair flowing loosely down her back, and over her shoulders covering the tops of her breasts. She wears a grass-green, cocktail dress, reaching to her mid-thigh, with a heavy bustier top, that covered, yet cradled her more than generous bust, her mile-long legs were sheathed in thigh-high black stockings, ending with stilettos the same shade as the dress.

Next to the blonde, while not as blessed up top as her blonde counterpart, walked a curvaceous, perfectly proportioned red-head. All her hair, was collected into a single, thick long braid. Covering her perfectly proportioned breasts, was a green-sequined, V-neck short-sleeved, button-down top, so tight, it strained the top two buttons, she is sporting a forest green, and crimson, plaid, miniskirt, with a pair of white knee-high socks, and black slippers.

The third vixen vision, had white, pupil less eyes, with violet-hair, styled in a curtainly wave. She wore a stylized black, short sleeved, nurse's uniform that hugged her slender form, ending just below her ass, the shapely legs were covered by a pair of pantyhose the same shade as her hair, and black orthopedic shoes to complete the fantasy, with a golden cross, in lieu of red. The last lady of the party, was the epitome of the ebon-headed beauty, with black _eyes_ and red accents, she donned a red and black halter corset dress, going to her knees, black thigh-high fishnet stockings, ending with black, leather, steel-tipped, cowgirl boots.

They were of course, Senju Tsunade, Uzumaki Kushina, Hyūga Hitomi and Uchiha Mikoto. Tsunade was here to operate on Itachi and Shisui to exchange one of their eyes, Dr. Hyūga was here to assist in the operation. Mikoto was here to say good-bye to her son, and Kushina was here because she was one of the few ninja, who could kill Itachi outright. Tsunade and Mikoto assured her, that it would not be necessary, but she wanted to be there in case he changed his mind, "to make sure my son's attack, didn't scramble his egg."

In the last thirty days, many events have taken place in the village. After the massacre, Itachi was tried in absentia, after testimony given by Sasuke with Mikoto representing him, followed by Naruto and Kushina. Itachi was found guilty, but could not be placed in the Bingo book without the daimyo's ratification. All the paperwork was sent to Flame, but at the time he decided that with his daughter out of the house, he and his wife would take a second honeymoon, and go on a vacation. Naturally, they took the twelve guardians, for protection and headed for Tanzaku Castle.

Tsunade thought that was a good idea, so she decided to go, it _was_ one of her old stomping grounds, and to make it more fun she decided to have a few close friends come with her. They made it a mostly ladies only weekend, to see if they still had it when it came to sexiness, for two of them would have their husbands join them later in the evening. For many kunoichi, sexiness and seduction are as much a weapon, as the kunai in their belt, some even choose to go on seduction missions, more than one kunoichi has decided to go on a few such missions before they get married.

These women have opted for a different kind of stealth, hiding in plain-sight. They head toward their destination, the Castle's kitchen which has been converted into a make shift operating room. It has metal surfaces and sinks, and lots of light. Shisui was already there. The Fire Lord and his wife were somewhere above. The ladies, henged into their work clothes, Tsunade and Hitomi into scrubs, and the other two in their ninja-fuku (ninja clothes).

Mikoto and Shisui hug in greeting. Someone entered via shunshin, as they were hugging. He had star-shaped ⁑ scars all over his face, onyx eyes, no hair and sallow, white skin. Yoruimōto was out and ready, "identify yourself, state your business," the clan leader of the Uzumaki commanded?!

He was wearing a long-sleeved brown tunic, with a hood attached, with a black leather belt carrying kunai and shuriken, blue jeans, cowboy boots and a chokuto strapped to his back. "I am here to be rewarded for murdering my clan, Kushina-obasan," he said in a careful, voice.

Tsunade stepped forward, "and I told you, you are not being rewarded for murdering your family, but for service to the village."

Mikoto walked over, and Itachi enveloped her in a hug, she kissed his cheek, then stepped back to look at his face. "What happened to you honey?"

Itachi smiled at Kushina, "Naruto happened, seems he had been perfecting his invention, anyway when it got all over me, I jumped into the lake killing the powder. I ran away after that, didn't stop till I was next to a stream, and fell unconscious, I woke up the next morning looking like you see me now."

Kushina winced, "I am sorry, he didn't know about your clan's coup, he was doing his duty," she apologized.

He held up his hand in forgiveness, "I would have done, the same thing if I had the same knowledge as he. That he could injure me, and surprise me shows he has great potential. Keep up his training, he could be the best one day."

Tsunade broke in, "Shall we get started people, I actually have plans with my husband this weekend?"

As do I, with my husband," The Lady of Hyūga admitted.

The exchange of an eye took less time than they figured. Apparently, a side-effect of the dojutsu, allows for painless extraction, and for it to heal within hours of surgery. Whatever pattern the eyes of the original were, changes to mimic the recipient's other eye. Shisui who had his longer, noticed the difference right away, and expressed his thoughts. "This is a relief, I may have used them sparingly, but I had already noticed lights dimming. Now, if anything my vision is better than before."

In all, the operation took only two hours, which was fast in terms of surgery and medical procedures. Since, Itachi was unrecognizable, he did not need to leave right away. Shisui returned to his duty with the Lord of Fire. Mikoto and Itachi got to spend one last night together, as mother and son. Before she left, Tsunade gave him contact information for Jiraiya's spy network, then Tsunade and Hitomi henged into their original outfits and left to be with their respective husbands. Kushina, also left looking for _certain_ entertainment, she had needs too damn it.


	7. Graduation

19 months later, the day of the Graduation exams…

Today, was the day of the graduation exams, Naruto was reflecting on the events of the past few months. He had just completed the written portion which he aced. In a little while he, and the rest of his class, would go outside to conduct the taijutsu trial. Divided by gender, they would have a tournament, if you made it to the semifinals you got an 80, which was minimum to pass, the finals got you a 90, if you won your gender got you a 99, the highest possible score, since you cannot overcome yourself, the next part was optional, if you lost nothing happened, if you won you became a genin regardless of what your Jonin sensei said, you had to survive a 3-minute bout with your class instructor.

After that staying outside, the class would go to the confidence course, to evaluate their throwing skill. The confidence course is an obstacle course to measure the student's capacity to throw kunai and shuriken, the minimum time to complete was five minutes. This was not throw and hope, each target was a human analogue, with the vital points obviously shown. The targets would arise from various positions, then retract. The student had to throw and hit the target before it was gone. Hitting any of the vital areas was worth a full point, merely hitting the targets was worth half a point, missing entirely nothing. Each student received, ten kunai and ten shuriken, the minimum to pass was fourteen of twenty, in five minutes. The record was twenty in three minutes, held by Ūchiha Itachi-teme. Then, after lunch, it was back inside for the three-standard academy ninjutsu; henge, kawarimi, and bunshin. They were pass-fail ninjutsu not point based. The student had to pass each section, a failure in any part would fail you for the entire exam. Each student got three chances to pass, if they failed all three chances, they were disenrolled from the program.

Naruto has developed by more than mere skill, the annihilation of the Ūchiha, what he saw that night, would stay with him for the rest of his life. The ritual of evolution helped him come to terms with the tragedy, but he will always remember, and will make him stronger for it. While he still played nuke-nin, and similar games, he took them seriously nowadays, and used it to assess and perfect his skills. Sakura and Yoshiko, Rock Lee and Tenten took it just as serious. Sasuke, and the kids, from his class followed Naruto and his friends; examples, but some of the other kids who played with them took it as a joke, or just a game. Neji **never** played with them.

In the nearly two years since the massacre, Naruto met his paternal grandmother, when she came for a visit. She was introduced as Namikaze-Senju Tamiko-sobo, though she was clearly a Hyūga, no mistaking _those_ eyes. She brought with her, a commonsense form of wisdom that Naruto lapped up, and used. She taught him to unlock Naruto's dojutsu, which was similar to the Byakugan, in function and power, except it was a more evolved version, which seemed to function with Naruto's already enhanced vision. She also began training Naruto in the Juken, which over the years, she had refined to be a more internal taijutsu-style. While still effective in combat, Jukobushi, as she calls it, seems to be having some sort of effect on his chakra, which was a given, but what was not expected was the effect it seemed to be having on Naruto's chi. They were not sure, what the ultimate outcome would be, but there did not seem to be any negative consequences, so he, Kushina, and his grandmother, were monitoring the situation closely.

They were formally, inducted into the Senju clan, Tamiko and Tsunade became great friends, bonding over the love of a husband and a brother. Now, in formal settings Naruto and Kushina were introduced as, Uzumaki-Senju-Namikaze. Less formally all three names were used interchangeably. This led to redrawing their family crest, looking similar to Yoshiko's crest it resembled a tree with bare branches, and the combined version of the Uzumaki-Namikaze crest just above, looked like a sunset in autumn.

"Alright, class, pencils down," Kurenai-sensei ordered, "pass your tests forward." Everybody complied with her instructions. "Stand, and follow me outside, I want a challenge today, so I want supreme effort, from all of you."

Naruto had a small smile, his mom informed him this morning, his mission had been complete now, he could bring forth his true talents.

Later…

They had reached the semi-finals, Naruto had stuck to Hidden Leaf style throughout the tournament, he used his quickness and reactions, to cover the flaws in the style. If the style had a strength it was in its counterattacks, which means you had to get hit, or nearly before you could mount effective strikes. Therefore, Naruto focused his senses upon his opponent, letting the ebb and flow of their blood, tell Naruto when to move, respiration told when to launch his own strikes. Kurenai-sensei and her students were not the only ninja present, in the event of emergency a team of isha-nin were on stand-by, Shizune-san among them. Shizune would also act as the second judge, if a decision was needed.

Right now, Rock was fighting Neji, and giving as good as he got. The Hyūga prodigy was using his family style, Jūken, caterpillar brow was testing Neji's strategy with the gōken. The match had gone on for a good thirty seconds, when Naruto noticed a smile form on his friend's face. Neji was scorning Rock by talking about Fate, allowing him to win, and how Rock should just give up. Rock immediately pushed Neji back a few feet. "Is it your true belief, that Fate decides everything, we do in life?" Neji just nodded, but Rock shook his head in disappointment, "Then, why are you trying to get me to quit?" That question shocked Neji, which was when Rock attacked. Neji managed to get his head in the game, in time to block the initial attack, allowing Rock to use a knife hand block on the crook of Neji's elbow. Faster than, the pull of gravity, Lee struck Neji five times in the chest and upper body, staying away from vital areas. Lee released the elbow, and brought his knife hand, in ridge hand formation into Neji's carotid artery. Neji folded like a cheap tent. An isha-nin was there with his medical chakra, waving smelling-salts under Neji's nose, jolting him into wakefulness. "Neji-san," Rock Lee said, getting the Hyūga's attention, "I am only 11, but even I understand that the only **Fate** that is certain is death. Our lives are governed by choice, whether it be our own, or somebody else's choices, even natural phenomena, not by _Fate_."

Lee walked over, and sat down next to Tenten, who leaned her head against his shoulder, she made it to the semi-final, but was defeated by Sakura's Geigeki ken before the match with Lee and Hyūga. Now, Sakura and Yoshiko would have their match, they were cousins and best friends, but for the next three minutes, they would do their level best to pummel each other into the ground.

They met in the center of the ring, where their sensei waited, they made a discreet hold signal, and spoke quietly, "The winner of this match, gets to go on a date with Naruto-kun alone," Yoshiko proposed, as she bowed. Kurenai had a discrete smile on her face, as a teacher she had to be impartial to her students, showing favoritism nor inequity, but she had to admit she would miss these two. Not even teenagers yet, and already choosing their mate, even willing to share him if necessary.

Sakura grinned as she bowed, "You're on."

They dropped into their primary stances. Their teacher began the match, and Sakura charged her cousin, launching a flurry of strikes. Yoshiko's defense was perfect, repelling blows from her opponent, never leaving her centerline. Sakura's salvo ended, as she ran out of steam. Before Sakura, could start again, Yoshiko was in her face, lunging into a leaning double-punch aimed for Sakura's upper and lower torso. Sakura retreating, circled round her cousin's fists aiming a blow at her friend's kidney. Yoshi-chan brought her arm, back into a guard position, striking Sakura in the elbow, activating her funny bone nerve causing needles to shoot through her arm, it became unresponsive. Sakura jumped away, turning her injured arm away from Yoshi-chan. A flurry of strikes began flying like rain, which was no wonder, they sparred together all the time, they knew each other, as much as it is possible to know anyone.

Obscured by a dust cloud, only Naruto's non-vision-based senses were telling him anything, he winced at a particularly harsh set of impacts. Lee's eyes were wide as he looked on, Tenten was clutching his arm, as she gazed intently at the match between her two closest girl-friends. Within the dust cloud, the two best friends had entered a clinch, the match had reached its two-minute mark. Obviously both, were evenly matched in terms of strength and skill. Yet, not equal in cunning, because Yoshiko decided to get into her cousin's head. "Saku-chan, when you go on your date with Naru-kun, are ya gonna let him put his hands on you," Yoshi-chan asked, sounding curious, causing her cousin to blush? "I _would_ if he were on a date with me, I imagine with all that training, his hands are pretty coarse." Sakura's hold tightened as she listened to Yoshiko describe, what Sakura herself wondered.

They were kunoichi, and while looks mattered a little, when it came time to choose a mate, appearances were not as important as power, and strength for shinobi mates. When young kunoichi daughters asked their kunoichi mothers, how they could tell the power of a shinobi, they usually answer, feel their hands. Yoshiko and Sakura _had_ asked, and received that same answer from both of their mothers. Then they felt their fathers' hands, realizing what their mothers meant, their fathers were both powerful shinobi, which can only be achieved through diligent training, and hard-fought battles, roughening their hands.

Yoshiko continued, whispering her thoughts, "Imagine taking his hands, and running them along your legs," she whispered, "you know, you'll have to take the initiative, Naruto's too much of a gentleman to try anything on his own." Sakura _knew_ that, and it made him even more appealing to her, she imagined what his hand _would_ feel like on her legs. When images she kept to herself, of him doing _things_ to her, flashed in her mind, causing her nose to bleed a little. Sakura's hold loosened, which was what Yoshiko was waiting for, because she immediately, palm struck Sakura hard in the lower belly. Sakura grunted, Yoshiko was not finished however, not giving her friend a chance to recover, and using the other arm, Yoshiko gave Sakura a lunge punch catching her higher in the stomach, finishing her off with an uppercut palm strike to the chin. All these attacks, occurred as fast as the eye could blink, sending Sakura into the air, landing in a heap. Sakura was out, a medic ninja materialized beside her, checking Sakura, the medic-nin found many welts, and scratches, as well as a curiosity. The isha-nin had observed the fight closely, she could have sworn Sakura had not been hit in the face, so she wondered where the nosebleed came from?

Sakura was carried off the field, into a medical tent to be treated, and given a more thorough examination. Meanwhile, Naruto and Rock stepped into the ring, _grinning_ from ear to ear. They _listened_ with half an ear while, Kurenai-sensei reminded them of the rules, and the time limit. "Ready," she asked?

Naruto and Rock formed the Ram seal, and shouted in unison, "Kai," removing their seals! Naruto closed his eyes and focused his senses, in the direction of the one in front of him; listening to _Rock's_ heartbeat, while ignoring the others; feeling and smelling Rock's breath move through the air; imprinting Rock's frame as it displaced the atmosphere surrounding it. Naruto finally opened his eyes, and saw his friend, through the eyes of a predator stalking his prey. His foxish eyes seemed to glow with eagerness, a predatory smile appeared upon his lips. This look and demeanor from Naruto, caused Lee to shudder, but he put it off as anticipation. Taking a deep breath, Naruto stood in a ready stance, neither defensive or offensive, **ready,** and gave a slight nod to his sensei.

"Hajime," she screamed?

 **A/N: This sequence should be read while listening to, It's My Life, by Bon Jovi.**

Rock Lee disappears to all students, their sensei and the isha-nin following his movements, then everybody hears a whistling noise, looking up they see him descending, with an axe kick at Naruto. It lands, leaving a small crater where Naruto once stood. Just above the crater, Naruto jump spins aiming a kick at Rock's head, who back steps out of range or so he thinks, Naruto continuing his spin lands catching Rock in the ankles. Rock feels himself beginning to take a fall, he stretches his arms, back flipping to land five feet away.

Naruto, still crouching, attacks with a sweeping arm, his fingers in a dragon's claw, aiming for Rock's knee with every intention of crushing it. Lee turns into the **Setchi ryū-te** , raising his shin to take the brunt of the attack, robbed of its power by meeting it, before the attack could build up inertia, and using one of the densest bones within the body – made even harder by kicking a rock face hundreds of times a day, before and after school – did not hurt either. It was still painful, but it was not harmful. Naruto trapped Rock's leg, and lifted, dumping him on his back. Accepting the fall, Lee rolled with it, and somersaulted backward, dodging to the side.

Lee let off a front kick at Naruto's gut, which Naruto allowed, grabbing Lee's leg, holding it in place then, hooked his feet out from under him. Lee turned the hook into a backflip kick, that caught Naruto in the chin, sending him rolling on to his back. Naruto rolled into his feet. This time _Naruto_ vanished, returning on Lee's right side, who sent a back fist at Naruto. Naruto accepting the direction of the strike, he caught Lee's arm in an unusual hold. He only used the index, middle, and thumb, cupping Rock's wrist joint. The other hand clutched Lee's elbow joint from above, all five fingers would have crushed a lesser person's bones. The fingers of both hands were piercing into a nerve bundle that caused Lee to scream out in pain, but this maneuver was not over. " **Tatsumaki Taiho,"** Naruto shouted! Naruto accepting the force, and adding some of his own pulled Lee, off balance meeting Naruto's leg below Lee's center of gravity, causing him to flip over the leg. Which would not have hurt him, if Naruto let go of Lee's arm, which Naruto did **not**. The arm in Naruto's hands remained as unmoving as a mountain, the rest of Lee did **not**. There was an audible crack, and Lee screamed in agony. The maneuver dislocated the radius and the ulna, from the humerus, and separated the wrist bones. Lee could not continue, and forfeited the rest of the match.

The medic ninja, were there and stabilized Lee's arm. Nobody seemed too worried about Lee's injury, not even Lee. It was painful no doubt about it, but it was far from a career ending injury. Since, Tsunade became Hokage, the staff at the hospital have become the best in the Elementals, injuries like Lee's could be mended in a matter of minutes, and have no effect on his performance later. Tenten went with him into the tent, holding his uninjured hand. He was heard saying, "You have given me, worse than this unyouthful injury, when I comment negatively on your cooking."

"Keep talking Rocky-kun, and your stay in this tent will last all day," she replied ominously.

The isha-nin took Lee into the medical tent, while their sensei called Yoshiko and Naruto to the middle of the ring. Standing between them Kurenai, held their arms in her hand, "And the title for strongest Kunoichi of the class goes to Senju-Ūchiha Yoshiko-san," she exclaimed, holding up Yoshi-chan's arm, "the title for strongest Shinobi of the class goes to Uzumaki-Senju-Namikaze Naruto-san," she declared, holding up Naruto's arm. "You will each receive a 99 percent for this exam, however both of you have the chance for _greater_ rewards," Kurenai-sensei said, her voice taking on a seductive quality. "Together, you may fight me in a three-minute bout, if you _fail_ nothing happens, however if you _succeed_ , you will both become genin, regardless of the test your jonin-sensei puts you through," she looked at them, expectantly, "what do you say?"

Naruto and Yoshiko glanced at each other, both giving the matter serious thought, Naruto sighed, but lowered his head, "As much as, I would like too, my match with Lee has left me too tired to fight."

Yoshiko closed her eyes, thinking about her chances without Naruto and added, "I agree with Naruto, as much as I would like to forgo, the Jonin-sensei examination I don't think I _can_ after the beating Sakura-chan gave me. Plus, what if, by sitting out and not contributing, I cause my team to fail the jonin test, then I would not have a team to rely on when we are on missions?"

Kurenai dropped their hands and turned away from them in apparent disappointment. "Is that your final decision," she said sounding bitter, before going on, "remember some opportunities once gone, are gone forever?"

Naruto and Yoshiko looked at each other and steeling their resolve together, said, "Hai sensei!"

Yūhi Kurenai-sensei's head came up, she was smiling proudly at them, "Congratulations, you both receive a 100 percent, for the taijutsu test," she looked over at Shizune-san, "did you hear their reasoning, Shizune-chan?"

"Yes, I did, Kurenai-chan, and it meets the criteria set forth in the guidelines specified by Tobirama-sama," Shizune explained, looking at the nonplussed, and confused students. Sakura, Lee, and Tenten returned just in time to hear the refusal, and the award of 100 percent. Both completely healed of their injuries from their respective fights. They were just in time for Yūhi's last lecture.

"You all know the reason, the top score for the taijutsu exam can never be above 99 percent, is because of the adage, it is impossible to defeat yourself," she began they all nodded, remembering their lectures. "Well, that is actually a misquote, the true saying is, 'the most difficult opponent you will ever face, will be your Self; pride, arrogance, overconfidence, and cowardice; are some of the enemies all of us face, and must fight every day. I will use myself as an example: I **pride** myself on being known as the genjutsu mistress of Konoha, a few years ago I met a young girl no older than you children, who put my illusions to shame. I won't go too deep into the story, but I will say that whatever she imagined, became reality." Kurenai looked at Yoshiko and Naruto, "Congratulations, you two are the first in the history of Konoha, to receive a 100 on this exam, but don't be cocky, there are those who even take pride in being humble."

The rest of the exams were uneventful, and were standard across the board. Tenten got 100 percent for the Confidence course, in 3 minutes and 5 seconds, Naruto took third place for it. After a celebratory lunch at Ichiraku's mobile ramen stand, they all went back to the school to take the ninjutsu exam. One by one all the shōrai no ninja went in, and completed their tests, finally it was time for Naruto to complete his tests. He entered the classroom bowing to his sensei and Shizune-san, who returned it while staying seated.

"Okay, Naruto we will tell you when, and you will perform the three-standard academy ninjutsu, understand," Kurenai instructed? He nodded, "Okay, think fast," she yelled throwing a blunt kunai at him. There was a swirl of wind, and Shizune was suddenly getting nailed by the kunai, and Naruto was standing next to his sensei.

Shizune was knocked loopy for an instant, "How did you do that, I did not feel you grab me," she asked, more curious than angry?

"Because, I did not grab _you_ Shizune-san, I grabbed your chair, _you_ just happened to be sitting on it. By the way, you're way too light, don't you ever eat anything," Naruto asked? Next to him, Naruto could hear Kurenai trying to stifle a laugh.

"Thank you, _Naruto-san_ ," Shizune said in a huff, clearly annoyed by the crack.

Returning to their original positions, he obviously passed kawarimi, "do a henge."

Naruto henged into a perfect replication of Kurenai-sensei, both got up and inspected the merchandise. _He even has the fragrance of perfume, I wore this morning._ Kurenai looking closely, asked extending her hand, "May I, Naruto-san?" He nodded, she reached out, and touched herself. It was solid. Most henges from academy students are illusions. "How did you do this, Naruto-san," she asked softly.

"It is a drawback, for the massive Uzumaki chakra coils, we cannot produce illusions, from genjutsu to bunshin, that includes henges. We call these Shinhenge, we can become any creature within five pounds of our mass, it requires a bit more chakra than normal henges."

Kurenai turned him around looking at him with fire in her eyes, "Not that, how do you know my proportions, so well?"

"Oh, that, Kurenai-sensei, you know about my senses, correct?" She nodded, and he continued, indicating his whisker-marks, and ears, "Well, these aren't just for show, they are functioning organs, twenty-times more sensitive than my fingers in touch. We all displace the air around us, I can sense the shape of any object that moves through the air." Naruto touched his elongated ears, "With these, I can hear into the same frequency range as cats, which is higher and lower than the human range. Your heartbeat produces vibrations that radiate out giving me a fairly accurate topographical map of your body, including moles, warts and _other_ features."

Kurenai pulls out a bandanna, and gives it to him, "Put this on, Naruto-san, now, please."

"What's this for," he asked suspiciously?

"It's to see if you're lying," she said cryptically.

He grudgingly complied, "Hai, sensei," he said with a sigh. When it was on, he couldn't see a thing, and asked, "Now, what?"

"I am going to open your shirt, do not worry if you're telling the truth everything will be fine, if not well…," she trailed off leaving the consequences of lying open for interpretation.

Naruto felt a pair of hands reaching for the chunin vest to remove it, then they raised the red t-shirt, and the bra cups. He felt a draft on his chest, which caused his nipples to harden. Since, he was only outwardly female, Naruto did not feel embarrassed to have his breasts out in the open. Naruto heard similar sounds coming from Kurenai's direction. They whispered to each other but Naruto caught what they said.

"What do you think, Shizune-chan? Are they the same color," he heard his sensei ask?

"Not even close, he has the shape and size down pat, that's for sure, but he obviously got the color from books. I've read them enough, to know they always make them pink, like his. Yours are brown as you can see," Shizune whispered in reply.

Naruto heard fabric move again, then he heard, "Very well, dispel the henge, you pass," she said in her usual tone, "I am sorry, I got so angry." He did.

Naruto nodded, finally understanding what her concern was, "You were concerned that I was a peeping tom," he stated, not really a question? "What were you checking for anyway?"

Shizune jumped in, "the color of the lingerie," she said quickly, "if it was really just shape and texture, then you wouldn't know the color of Kurenai-san's lingerie."

"Then why did you lift the bra," he asked?

This time Kurenai answered, though a bit more calmly, than her counterpart, "Despite our best efforts, sometimes we ladies have a bra strap come into view, so you might have used that to clue into the color of my underwear."

Naruto finished her thought, "And, if I were a peeping tom, and saw the interior of the bra…" he supplied.

"Exactly," the ladies said together.

Shizune spoke up, "just from a medical stand point, how deep does the change go?"

Naruto was confused for a minute, before understanding dawned, "Not too deep, I am still a human, and male no matter the henge. I have had 'The Man Talk' with uncle Hiro, and later had to have 'The Lady Talk' with mom. So, no, I don't have a menstrual cycle, and all that goes with it.

Kurenai broke in, "That's enough twenty questions, Shizune-san, if you want to know more about it, ask him later. Now, let's get this over with, shall we," she asked, back in teacher mode? "Naruto make at least three bunshin of any type."

He nodded, made signs, and thought, _Futonjutsu: Kaze no Bunshin_ , three Wind Avatars swirled into existence, bowed together, "How did we do, ladies," asked in chorus Naruto I?

"How did we do, ladies," asked in chorus Naruto II?

"How did we do, ladies," asked in chorus Naruto III?

"How did we do, ladies," asked in chorus Naruto IV?

They grinned, "Well, you performed all three ninjutsu, flawlessly, with a few surprises; got the third highest score at the confidence course; became a legend with Ūchiha-Senju Yoshiko-san by being the **only** two to ever receive a perfect score in taijutsu; and got a perfect score on your written test; therefore, I'd say you did okay," Kurenai said with a smile.

Naruto crowed, out loud, "Yes," he said, pumping his arm a couple of times. Walking over he picks of a forehead protector. He removes his boonie-hat, setting it down. He removes a tiger striped bandanna from his pocket, attaches the forehead protector to said bandanna, folding it into a dew rag and tying it around his head.

Kurenai goes to the door asking Yoshiko to enter. Yoshi-chan enters, and squeals in excitement when she sees her friend had become a ninja with her. She races over and hugs him, bouncing in happiness. Kurenai grinned, came over and waited for their attention, "Yes, congratulations, now the Hokage has sent her congratulations, and confirmed that you may choose the members of your team as well as your jonin-sensei." She handed them two strips of paper, to write down their requests. They did and then left, to celebrate.

Later that night…

Godaime Hokage, Senju Tsunade, the Slug Princess, was going over the list of graduates from today. As a grandma and Hokage, she was proud that her magomusume and sōdaina oi had achieved a perfect score in the taijutsu test today. That benchmark, set forth by her sōdai oji, the Nidaime had never been achieved until today. She fished out the slip of paper, that had their team requests on it. _Best to get the easy one out of the way before, getting into the tough ones._ Tsunade opened Naruto's read it and smirked, then opening her magomusume's her mouth dropped open, then she started chuckling, the chuckle became a giggle, then to laughter, finally it devolved into full on guffaws of pure mirth. She quickly marks approved on both, not that she had any choice, but this was a combination even she had not conceived.

* * *

Teams Assignments: FINAL

Teams 1 – 5 inconsequential

Team 6: Higarashi Tenten, Hyūga Neji, Lee Rock; Jonin-sensei Maito Gai

Teams 7, 8 & 10: TBD

Team 9: Ūchiha-Senju Yoshiko, Ūchiha Sakura, Senju-Uzumaki-Namikaze (SUN) Naruto; Jonin-sensei Uzumaki-Senju-Namikaze (SUN) Kushina


End file.
